baseball

Road Trip to Miami and loanDepot Park

Posted on by Paul

Continuing on from Washington DC, we followed the Padres on their road trip to catch a game in Miami and loanDepot park (which is named with both words starting with a lower case letter).

loanDepot park is located about 3 miles away from downtown Miami where we stayed and it’s on the way from Miami International Airport into downtown such that I thought it was the Miami Heat’s arena (Kaseya Center) when we were driving into the hotel.

After getting settled at the hotel and buying some tickets online, I received the Gameday email and I thought it was pretty cool how they encourage instruments and flags like you see at soccer matches:

It makes sense considering the large Latin influence in Miami and it would be great to see baseball games have more energy like you see at the World Baseball Classic games, including the ones that have been played at loanDepot Park in the past.

The ballpark itself is in an area that is mostly businesses and residential so there really isn’t much to do there and there isn’t really public transportation to get there so by car is the best option which means you can get stuck in traffic going to and leaving the ballpark.

Once we got to the ballpark, I noticed that the home run sculpture had been moved in front of one of the entrance gates:

The sculpture does look a little worn being in the sun all day now so I’m surprised they actually kept it versus just removing it completely.

As you walk around the ballpark, you notice the concourse area is a standard size (not small or super large) but having so many stands on both sides of the concourse along with the ropes for their lines make the concourse even smaller:

Right now, overcrowding on the concourse doesn’t seem to be an issue since the crowds aren’t large (the game I went to on Monday night only had a paid attendance of 11,128) but I do wonder if you feel like packed sardines when there’s a packed house like the World Baseball Classic.

As well, some of the food stands they set up now block some of the standing room only (SRO) areas as you can see here where they put stands right in front of the SRO rails:

So it does take away some of the standing room only areas but there are still some areas left and the field is still visible as you walk around the ballpark on the Promenade Level. And unlike other ballparks, there aren’t any suites on this main concourse level so you can pretty much see the field the whole except for the parts where food stands are partially blocking your view.

As you walk around the ballpark (and I went up the third base line going clockwise around the ballpark), the outfield area is more narrow since you’re right up against the glass panels that give the ballpark some outside light when the roof is closed.

Right when you get to the outfield coming from the left field foul pole, around section 28/29, they have The Lineup Food Hall section with some different food stands and there’s a patio area you can walk out to and get a great view of the downtown Miami skyline which I really like.

As you walk around the outfield towards the right field foul pole, you do see their well-known bobblehead museum as well as a small kids area:

In terms of food, they offer a variety of different options besides the standard ballpark fare including locally inspired food but they don’t have actual local restaurants. It seems to be all their concessionaire’s own creations but with a local flavor, similar to what ballparks first started when branching out to more than peanuts, nachos and hot dogs. So while the food is decent, it doesn’t have the high quality being many unique great testing local foods as you see at other ballparks.

For the in-game entertainment, the Rooster Race is their equivalent of the Brewers’ Sausage Race or the Nationals’ President Race where they have four people in different rooster costumes racing on the dirt track around the ballpark.

They also do try to do things in between the innings like the Simba Cam and other skits to keep fans engaged but it seemed to end pretty early, fading into music before the next half inning started. Maybe it was because of the small crowd too but the energy of the in-game entertainment was lacking a bit.

Overall views from the seat are good and what you expect from the modern ballparks with good sightlines from the respective sections. There weren’t any sections where I felt too far/high.

The one interesting spot was in right field around section 137 as there’s a standing room area with a drink rail and high top tables but the SRO area is angled so you’re facing centerfield instead of home plate. I found this odd, as though this area was left as a gap so they just made it SRO:

So overall, loanDepot Park feels very modern but like other ballparks (Chase Field and now Daikin Park in Houston come to mine), when the roof is closed, it does feel more have that warehouse feel to it with the roof so high and it being enclosed.

Also with the lack of people there, the location being by itself and not much to do in area, it’s hard to put this ballpark that high on the list. The thing is if you’re looking for a way to catch a game for cheap and be able to move around pretty easily in the ballpark (both navigating the park and moving around in your seats), then that’s one thing you can do here. Talking to some locals, they like going here when it’s a good matchup, like if the Yankees or Dodgers are in town or the Marlins are playing Pittburgh and Paul Skenes is pitching.

Road Trip to Washington DC and Nationals Park

Posted on by Paul

It’s been over 15 years since I last went to Washington DC so figured now was a good time to go to the U.S. capital and see Nationals Park as I try to see all 30 ballparks.

Nationals Park is located in the Navy Yard neighborhood of DC, right next to the Anacostia River. It’s an area that has been redeveloped with Nationals Park playing a big part in it. There are many condos and apartments in the areas along with restaurants and bars.

I actually think because of all the development in the area, the ballpark was built so that the Center Field Gate is the corridor out to the neighborhood and vice versa into the ballpark.

This gate has a really wide open concourse once you enter the ballpark:

And when you exit out the ballpark it’s wide open to exit out to the restaurants and bars:

This is also notable since as you walk around the ballpark on the outside, it looks like indescript office buildings. From far away, you might not even notice that it’s a ballpark if you were walking around going south on 1st St SE until you saw the Right Field Gate, First Base Gate or Home Plate Gate.

Which also leads to another thing that stuck out to me, which where the parking garages behind both left and right field that are part of the ballpark’s skyline. The garages are noticeable for those like me who look at the backdrop in the outfield of a ballpark (and why PNC Park in Pittsburgh is so highly rated). The Nationals have tried covering them up with banners and Garage C in right field is partially blocked by the big scoreboard but you can see the garages:

And whether on purpose or that’s how it came to be, the buildings in the skyline aren’t that tall so the parking garages block some of the view into the ballpark. We stayed at the Hampton Inn & Suites Washington DC Navy Yard across the street (it’s right across from the aforementioned Center Field Gate) that has a rooftop bar and Garage C with its solar panels blocks a good portion of the ballpark view:

With the Anacostia River being blocked by the right field seats, which is the only section in the outfield with a second level, along with the parking garages and buildings that aren’t that tall, the skyline doesn’t have that great of a view when compared to other ballparks and could have been so much better.

Once in the ballpark, the wide open concourse in center field does narrow to a typical concourse size once you get to the foul pole on either first base or third base side and start going towards home plate. The concourse doesn’t feel tight or anything but when its crowded (such as after the game when everyone’s leaving), it does take awhile to maneuver through them, similar to the problems you see at Petco Park.

It’s like other ballparks where you can see the field walking around the ballpark and on Level 1, pretty much every section has standing room only with the drink rail to stand and watch the game. The only exception, like other ballparks, is when you get behind home plate, as in this case the view is blocked both by the PNC Diamond Club and the Washington Suites.

However, because the sections behind home plate are primarily for either the Terra Club (which is their premium underground club for the lower seats right behind home plate) or the PNC Diamond Club (which are the premium seats in the sections right behind the Terra Club seats, see this map where only the back parts of 119, 120 and 126 are non-premium seats to see what I mean), it’s not as big of a deal to have to walk around to access your seats behind home plate since most of these seats are premium seating with access to these clubs. In other ballparks where they have regular seating in front of the home plate suites, you end up having to walk around several sections to access your seat.

I do like the displays they’ve done around the ballpark since being a newer franchise, you can’t just rely on all historical milestones like other ballparks, so mixing it with some history and fun is a good way to give some character:

In general when you walk around the ballpark, the view is good to see game action. I didn’t really feel any seats had a bad view and the views from each area would be what I would expect from them i.e. being in the top level has that elevated view but it didn’t feel like you were super far away.

Like Petco Park, the third base side is the shade side for day games so those who like to sit on the home side (first base) where the 100 sections are will be in the sun pretty much the whole time except for the last couple of rows.

In terms of food, they have been adding more local food options spread throughout the ballpark along with some national chains (Shake Shack and Rita’s Italian Ice & Custard) and the standard ballpark fare. I found the ballpark to have a good variety of different options and among the better food options of the ballparks that are spread out to give you a reason to go around the ballpark.

What I found interesting is they replaced the big scoreboard screen with a higher clarity screen before the 2024 season but they didn’t make it bigger.

It’s a decent size but considering how much the screen plays a part in the in-game entertainment, I’m surprised they didn’t make it larger and take up the whole area in right field (replacing the permanent ads) even if they wanted the screen to have constant ads (similar to what the Giants did where they replaced the entire area and have ads on the side of the video screen when not showing replays or hype the crowd up videos)

They have in-game entertainment during each half-inning break and most involved fan interactions, such as karaoke battle, putting challenge and seat upgrades. Of course you can’t forget the Presidents Race, doing a good amount of in-game entertainment to keep the fans engaged. I bring this up because there are some ballparks where they don’t have as much in-game entertainment and spend many innings just playing background music.

Overall Nationals Park is a solid ballpark that I would put in the middle tier. It doesn’t stand out in one area to make it super great like the top tier ballparks but at the same time doesn’t do anything bad either, making it firmly in that middle range. The standard ticket prices are pretty expensive but if you can find a deal on SeatGeek or StubHub, it’s a solid place to have a good time watching a ballgame.

All Star Break Monday Musings

Posted on by Paul

With the All Star Break now and the unofficial “first” half over (since really they play more than 81 games by the time they get to the All Star Break), some musings on the current state of the Padres:

  • With Robert Suarez and Adrian Morejon being added as All Stars to replace other players who aren’t playing, the Padres became the first team to have three relievers make the All Star team in the same season. Pretty impressive and glad that MLB continues to value relievers not just based on saves. Adam and Morejon actually deserve it more based on their advanced pitching stats as shown below though I get that people still see saves as the “sexy” stat. Suarez does have three more saves than any other pitcher (28 saves to Carlos Estevez of KC and Josh Hader of Houston with 25 each) and seven more than the next NL pitcher (Trevor Megill with Milwaukee):
PlayerIPRA9RAAWAAgmLIWAAadjWARRARwaaWL%
Jason Adam47.22.45101.01.620.21.714.522
Adrián Morejón43.22.8980.91.670.11.412.518
Jeremiah Estrada43.03.5650.61.650.01.09.512
Robert Suarez40.23.7640.42.230.10.87.508
Wandy Peralta42.14.0420.20.93-0.10.56.505
Team Totals850.03.98636.71.35-0.714.1142.515

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/14/2025.

  • Still need a better hitting catcher and a right-handed batter who can play DH or LF. It’s becoming glaringly obvious how weak the bottom of the lineup is and getting this will really lengthen the lineup. There just isn’t much available on the trade market and I’m hoping AJ doesn’t go too crazy and trade one of our top picks. At some point we need to start replenishing the farm starting with the 2025 MLB Draft these past two days.
  • Nice way to end the first half with a 6-4 homestand. Going into the homestand, I was hoping for 6-4 and thought 5-5 was more realistic. Figured the Padres would win 2 out of 3 versus Texas, split 2-2 with Arizona and then win 1 out of 3 against Philadelphia considering Arizona and Philly have played the Padres tough the past few years regardless of how they were playing (Arizona had lost 8 out of 11 going into the series with the Padres and Philly lost 2 out of 3 to the Giants).

    Once we got to the last series against Philly and how they had their three best pitchers lined up, I was thinking even 1 out of 3 was going to be tough. So nice way to finish winning 2 out of 3 and really could have won the last game as you can’t really ask for more from your pitching when you only give up two runs including a run in the 1st inning due to two errors and then having multiple scoring opportunities including Luis Campusano grounding into a double play with runners on 1st and 2nd.

    Hopefully, the Padres can start the second half with some momentum. Would be crazy to ask them to repeat their second half last year (43-20) but if they can be something like 36-30 to end up with 88 wins, I can see that being enough to get into the playoffs where it becomes a crapshoot.

All Star Selection Monday Musings

Posted on by Paul

From hearing yesterday that Jason Adam and Fernando Tatis Jr. were selected to join Manny Machado as the Padres All Star selections, I wasn’t surprised that Jason Adam was selected (it’s well deserved) and that he was picked over Robert Suarez.

Even though Suarez leads the NL in saves, his underlying metrics haven’t been good (see my previous post) and Adam has been great all year. He’s had some blips here and there as you would expect with any pitcher and a long season, especially someone like Adam who is tied for second in number of appearances (44) this season (Tyler Rogers 45) which is leading to him being overused. It can’t be sustainable to have him end up appearing in 80+ games this year and even though he’s never complained about it, the current usage has to catch up to him here and there and having rough patches as a result.

Tatis being selected was a surprise, since we’ve seen him struggle for two months now. Since May 1, his slash line is .218/.328/.364 (OPS of .692) and a wRC+ of 98.

But reading more into it, my assumption is the players voted him based on overall metrics which include his hot start to the season along with what he does on the defensive side.

Even with the bad stretch, his fWAR is 3.6, his bWAR is 3.7 and both are 10th overall in all of MLB for position players. As well, he’s tied for 12th with 9 Outs Above Average, which is the highest for any right fielder.

So when you look at all the metrics including his defense, I can see why he was voted. But other players had solid cases for being selected as well so it wouldn’t have been surprising if someone like Juan Soto had been selected instead.

Hopefully this helps give Tatis a bounce in his step and he starts to rebound and play like he did earlier in the season and last night against Texas when he was driving runs and setting the table in the leadoff spot.

4th of July Musings

Posted on by Paul

With an off day yesterday and a 10-game homestand starting before the all star break, some thoughts on the current state of the Padres:

  • The Padres have a need for another batter, ideally a right handed hitter, that can either DH or play left field. A righty would be a good complement to Gavin Sheets to play the two positions.
  • There’s a need for a hitting catcher though I do get also about the calling the game part. Both Elias Diaz and Martin Maldonado are doing a good job of handling the pitching staff considering three young guys who were supposed to battle it out for the 5th spot (Randy Vasquez, Stephen Kolek and Ryan Bergert) are all being called to pitch in the rotation right now and have held up their end. But when you see stats like this, it’s hard not to see such a large hole in the lineup.
  • You can never have enough starting pitching so you hope that Yu Darvish and Michael King are able to come back so you then have them along with the above three young guys and Nick Pivetta and Dylan Cease (who you hope will have more good days than what he’s been doing this year).

It seems like the Padres best option to deal for any hitting will be to deal one of their relievers and teams will be more interested in guys like Jeremiah Estrada and Adrian Morejon who still have some control (Morejon has one more year while Estrada still has four). Kind of like how the Padres dealt for Jason Adam and Bryan Hoeing last year who both still have control. I also see this as part of why the Padres have been promoting many young relievers recently (like Eduarniel Nunez) to get a feel for how they handle the big league level if they were to deal one of the current relievers on the major league roster.

Ideally the Padres would deal Robert Suarez. Besides his peripherals not being good since June 1 (it makes me nervous when I see him come out to close), he’s most likely to opt out at the end of the year. Considering how good he was earlier in the year (which is similar to last season where he had the rut in August and early September and then bounced back and pitched fine in the playoffs), it could also be due to overuse as the more often he pitches, the more he’s just throwing hard fastballs down the middle with no movement.

It makes me think about how Milwaukee dealt Josh Hader and Devin Williams before they became free agents and that makes the most sense to me so the Padres can get something for him and then elevate Adam or Morejon or do a closer by committee.

Because realistically it’s highly unlikely AJ Preller will sell no matter where the team is in four weeks. The years where the Padres were on the outside with a small chance to make the playoff (2015 and 2023), he didn’t sell even though it made more sense to. So even if he doesn’t make any major moves (because the prospect system isn’t as good as it was in years past), I don’t see him selling either and instead making some minor moves.

Road Trip to Cincinnati and Great American Ball Park

Posted on by Paul

With the Padres in Cincinnati this weekend, this was another city and ballpark I haven’t been to so I decided to do a quick trip over the weekend to see the Padres play on the road and see the next ballpark in my quest to see all 30 (the A’s and Rays will be interesting by the time I get to them).

As I arrived at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG), I actually didn’t realize that the airport is located in Kentucky as I had assumed it was in Cincinnati. Granted the Ohio River literally separates Ohio and Kentucky so it’s still right there and ended up only being a 20-minute drive, even with some traffic due to road closures in downtown Cincinnati. I stayed at the AC Hotel, which is right across the street on the side of the ballpark where the Reds Hall of Fame & Musuem is located and I was able to get a room that had a balcony out to the street:

I like how they’ve turned this area right across the street into what they call a DORA and closed off the road so people can eat and drink before and after games, basically a small ballpark district next to Great American Ball Park (GABP):

From street level, you can see Paycor Stadium in the background as it’s four blocks down the street:

The way the ball park is built with the Reds Hall of Fame & Museum on the west side, the Ohio River on the south side (along with an underground parking garage), the Heritage Bank Center arena on the east side, and another ballpark building on the north side, GABP blends into its environment where you could easily not even notice the ballpark when driving by.

This may have been done on purpose since a ballpark or stadium is a large structure but it doesn’t provide the artistic look you see of other ballparks that blend into their environment like how PNC Park really blends into its location. I still remember seeing PNC as my Uber was pulling up and being in awe of how great it looked.

Once in the ballpark, on the Terrace level, which is the level you enter the ballpark on and gives you you access to the 100 seating sections, you don’t really have a view of much in the ballpark’s background being that it’s on the Ohio River and since Covington across the river doesn’t really have a skyline of tall buildings.

I entered the ballpark from Gate A and went left, so I was going up the third base side and wrapping around clockwise to see the sights and sounds of the entire ballpark. The concourse on the third base side felt pretty large and easy to get around even with it being crowded since there was a Big Red Machine 50th Anniversary Cap giveaway:

And like a lot of the ballparks built in the early 2000s, many parts of the Terrace Level allow you to see the field as you walk the concourse and the sections that allow you to see the field have standing room only areas in the back of the section which I like since it gives all fans access to see a great view if they want to walk around and stand.

But like many of these other ballparks, the sections around home plate have suites so you can’t see the field from the concourse. At GABP there are the World Series Suites behind sections 113-118, a gap to enter at section 119 and then the Founders Suites from 120-123. So besides not seeing the field you also have to enter around to go down to the seats in those sections.

As you walk towards center field, the walkway goes behind the batter’s eye but then after passing the batter’s eye, you get a nice standing room mist area (especially needed this weekend where it was low 90s at game time) underneath the smoke stacks:

And then from there it goes behind the right field seats which don’t give you a view of the field. They do have a cutout near section 140/141 where you can see the visiting team’s bullpen which was pretty cool:

Once I got to the foul pole and was heading back towards home plate on the first base side, I noticed that there were stairs (along with an accessible ramp) to continue:

The picture above is someone walking down the first base side and then reaching right field and wanting to continue so they would go down the stairs. In my case, since I was going from right field over to first base (walking clockwise around the ballpark), I had to go up the stairs.

I know people complain about Petco and how it can feel like a maze since you can’t just walk all the way around the ballpark without going up stairs or ramps so these stairs at GABP felt weird since you’re able to make it around the Terrace level smoothly without going up and down except for this part.

The other thing I noticed is once I walked down the first base side towards home plate, the concourse there was extremely crowded and hard to walk around. I contribute that to more people sitting on the first base side since for day games the sun hits the third base side pretty hard (the first base side has shade) and the fact that they put additional carts and stands on both sides of the concourse, making the walkway even smaller. I’ve seen this to be an issue at Petco as well with all the carts they’ve added over the years.

Food wise I noticed they had food stands for local food places like Skyline Chili, LaRosa Pizzeria, Montgomery Inn, Wings and Rings and Graeter’s Ice Cream along with Chick-fil-a.

I tried the Frybox that’s known as a GABP specialty, going with the Ballpark Favorite Frybox that had fries, chili and cheese. This one was pretty good and I would recommend trying Frybox as they have a variety of different Fryboxes including building your own. It’s located right where the stairs I mentioned before that go to right field,

In terms of views of the action, the seats have a good view of the action like most modern ballparks:

And if yo down the line in left field near the foul pole, you can see the Roebling Suspension Bridge:

As I walked around the ballpark, what I noticed is GABP tends to be more no-frills. They have the local Cincinnati food, some different alcohol options but you don’t see a lot of different group and social areas or a bunch of other attractions (or some might say distractions) around the ballpark. There is the Fioptics District on the 400 level near the left field foul pole but it’s easy to miss unless you specifically go up there like I did and walk around the entire ballpark:

People tend to look at these other amenities on the main level (in this case GABP’s Terrace level) since this is where most people enter a ballpark. The Reds have the great Hall of Fame & Museum but it is an additional cost and it’s located on its own right outside the ballpark. As well, the main team store is attached to the Hall of Fame & Museum outside (there are smaller stores and stands in the ballpark) so even going to the team store you would do that before or after the game.

So when you’re inside the ballpark, you’re really just looking to get food and drink and head to your seats to watch. There isn’t a lot to do as you can see with other ballparks whether it’s kids’ areas with rides/games, social/group areas to hang out, other attractions, etc.

Some may prefer to just watch a game but for others, all these different things that make up the ballpark and its experience play a part in how people rank their ballparks and why I can see people not ranking GABP as high. If you’re just looking to come watch a game and get some good local Cincy food, then GABP has you covered.

If you’re looking for everything the way some of these other ballparks offer (all the extra amenities, the view, many things to do in the area, etc) or there’s something really sticks out in a ballpark (like the view in PNC) then I can see why you wouldn’t rank GABP as high. I fall in the latter crowd, so I consider and value all the additional things when ranking ballparks and would put GABP in my middle tier when comparing it to other ballparks.

Washington Nationals Monday Musings

Posted on by Paul

With the Washington Nationals in town for a three-game series and how well the former Padres players in the Juan Soto trade on the Nationals’ active MLB roster are doing, it’s fun to look back at the What If? had the Padres kept those players and not made the trade.

Here are their stats as of today:

CJ Abrams: 2.7 bWAR, .278/.351/.484 (.835 OPS), 11 HR, 15 SB

James Wood: 3.5 bWAR, .278/.375/.560 (.935 OPS), 21 HR, 57 RBI

MacKenzie Gore: 2.8 bWAR, 3.19 ERA, 3-7 W-L, 123 SOs (leads the league)

Robert Hassell III was called up on May 20, 2025 for the first time and in 79 plate appearances has a slash line of .218/.228/.269 (.497 OPS) while Jarlin Susana is still in the minors.

Of course if the Padres don’t make the trade, there’s always the daisy chain effect as Jackson Merrill might not be here (he might have been traded instead for another player that AJ Preller felt could put the team over the top), they sign or trade differently because of who they have here and other gaps (such as not signing Xander Bogaerts with Abrams as SS), etc. But let’s for fun, assume only the trades directly affected by Juan Soto (such as the trades to get Michael King and lead to getting Dylan Cease) don’t happen, you end up with a starting lineup and pitching rotation of:

Tatis RF
Arraez 1B
Machado 3B
Wood LF
Sheets DH
Merrill CF
Cronenworth/Iglesias 2B
Diaz/Maldonaldo C
Abrams SS

Pivetta
Gore
Bergert
Kolek
Another starter with Darvish and Musgrove on the IL

The first thing that sticks out is how this lineup skews really lefty with six left-handed hitters. There’s already that challenge with Merrill, Sheets, Cronenworth in the middle of the lineup (and Arraez if you want to switch it with yesterday’s lineup where Merrill batted second and Arraez fourth) so this really makes it even more so.

The other thing is the length of this lineup as really the only glaring hole is the catcher position. But having solid players from 1-7 and 9 really goes with the Padres motto of passing the baton along the lineup and how some other teams have that length where every batter is a challenge.

Starting pitching seems to be more of an issue with this lineup; I get it’s been an issue this year with the injuries to Darvish and King but you have to give credit to Vasquez, Kolek and Bergert for how well they’ve been pitching considering being young guys at the back of the rotation.

Besides the fact that the surrounded players signed/traded would be different because of a different approach to roster construction with having these guys around as mentioned above, the other thing is if the Padres don’t make this trade, they don’t get to the NLCS in 2022 or win 93 games in 2024 (since they picked up Michael King and Dylan Cease as a result of trading Soto to the Yankees after the 2023 season).

The ultimate goal is to win the World Series but considering the lack of success in the Padres history, they had legitimate teams these past few seasons to make the playoffs and do something which is what you want as a fan.

So would I still do the trade in hindsight? Yes, because it’s still allowed the team to be competitive since then. Now if the Padres didn’t get anything for Juan Soto when they felt they couldn’t re-sign him, had their payroll/budget concerns after Peter Seidler’s passing and didn’t end up with King, Cease and Vasquez that made them competitive last year and again this year, then I’d have a different opinion.

Tuesday Night Musings

Posted on by Paul

Musings halfway through the second series with the Dodgers after dropping 4 of the first 5 games to them:

  • Xander Bogaerts batting in the middle of the lineup continues to kill the Padres scoring opportunities. Two times he had two runners on and both times he grounded into double plays. I previously mentioned about moving Xander down and at that time Sheets hadn’t emerged the way he has, which is even another reason to move him down. I get it that Jackson Merrill is out right now but it doesn’t mean that Xander has to be the one to move up. For a while Shildt seemed to have moved Xander down to 6th in the lineup but now he’s right back in the middle of the lineup where he can do damage or is more often the case do what he did tonight.
  • Nice to see local guy Trenton Brooks hit a two-run home run. It’s sad but he already has contributed more in that one at bat than the other call ups this year including Luis Campusano and Connie Joe. Might as well give him some run with Merrill out and considering the major hole at left field.

The Padres can be frustrating to watch, especially considering the struggles the past week against the Dodgers and Diamondbacks. Nevertheless I’ll be watching against tomorrow and be at Petco Park on Friday when the team returns home.

Road Trip to Milwaukee and American Family Field

Posted on by Paul

With the Padres playing a weekend series in Milwaukee and never having been there before, I decided to make a quick weekend trip to check out the city and American Family Field, formerly know as Miller Park (and what many of the Brewer fans still call it).

The ballpark is located just outside of downtown (it was about 4 miles from my hotel) and from doing some Googling before the trip, most people recommend staying downtown and then taking one of the many shuttles since there isn’t much to do in the area around the ballpark. I’m a big fan of ballparks being in downtown or areas where there is much to do around it but in the case of American Family Field, it’s isolated by itself as its right off the freeway and has primarily residential nearby and even those in the residential area have a bit of a walk to get to the ballpark.

Since many of these shuttles require a purchase at the establishment (i.e. buying a drink at the bar), I ended up taking Uber/Lyft from my hotel which wasn’t expensive ($10-$15 each way).

Getting to the ballpark is pretty easy and only took 10 minutes. I left at 5:40pm for a 6:35pm start time and from getting picked up at the hotel and getting dropped in the rideshare lot, it was only about a 10 minute drive and didn’t have any traffic on a Saturday night.

Now leaving the game is another matter as it reminds me of leaving Qualcomm Stadium and how it takes some time to leave because all the lots are funneling out to the same exits.

The one thing you noticed is tailgating is in full effect here as there are some expansive parking lots surrounding the ballpark:

And right in front of the ballpark as you walk towards the main entrance (it’s between the ballpark and the parking lots) is Helfaer Field, a little league-size field that can be used on non-gamedays:

Once inside the ballpark, I walked around the field and loge levels and noticed that the walkways are of a good size so it doesn’t feel crowded or congested or difficult to walk around.

I did notice that on the field level behind home plate they have suites so when you’re walking there you don’t have a view of the field. As well, you have to go around the suites to access seats in sections in front of the suites. For example, if you have seats in section 119-123 which are in front of the suites, you have to either access the seats from 118 or from 124, which both feed into a walkway that goes right in front of those suites to access seats in 119-124.

Similarly on the loge level, the press box blocks the view when in the walkway behind home plate. But throughout the rest of the field and loge levels, you have a view of the field as you walk around and I like that they have it set up for standing room only behind each section on both levels (unlike some ballparks like Petco Park that only have standing room on the field level).

Some people have mentioned how the ballpark is a little difficult to walk around and it does have a maze-like feel to it. On the field level, when I was walking around the ballpark and going from center field into left field, it abruptly ends and tells you to go up to the upper levels:

You have to look to the left of the team store to find a walkway to go continue on with the rest of the field towards third base and home plate:

As well on the loge level in right field, it just abrupty ends at section 201:

While in left field it ends in a private event area:

I do like that on the loge level near both foul poles they have unique food areas that include bar areas for drinks which makes these areas really become social areas to hang out and watch the game. On the left field foul pole, the have The Alley Food Truck Park:

Near the right field foul pole is the 3rd St. Market Hall Annex, which features vendors from the 3rd St. Market Hall in downtown Milwaukee:

A lot of people like the loge level at American Family Field as the view is a little more elevated so you can see plays happening a little more especially balls hit to the outfield. As well, the pricing is more reasonable here which along with the previously mentioned food/bar areas near the foul poles, make it a good place to watch the game.

On the field level, the have games for kids to play near the right field foul pole, with a larger selection of different games for kids to play than other ballparks. Below is just one section of games they have offered:

Besides the aforementioned food areas, the other food stands throughout the ballpark offer ballpark food that they advertise as being based on recipes from local restaurants:

This includes ballpark variations of local popular foods like cheese curds and frozen custard and these stands were repeated throughout the ballpark. That is, they would have a Burgers stand, Sausages stand, Chicken stand, etc and then repeat it again. The food itself was good for ballpark food and better than the generic stands that some ballparks have but I tend to like places that feature actual stands of unique/local food vendors i.e. if they had more of the unique food areas like on the loge level throughout the entire ballpark.

The new video screens in center field and right field that were installed for the 2024 season are both pretty large and clear though it was interesting they’re only 1080p screens. But the pictures were bright and clear (and didn’t seem to ber noticeably less clear than the 2K and 4K screens some other ballparks have) and provided good information on the game including video reviews when the Padres challenged and lost a video review.

From the seats, the views were pretty good as I saw a game with the roof open and then another game where they started closing the roof in the 2nd inning as a thunderstorm was coming. I had a good view on the field and loge levels and didn’t feel too far away with the exception of the loge level in the outfield which did feel like it was much further away. I didn’t get a chance to go to the club or upper levels as I’ve heard that the upper level seats feel really high and far away.

There isn’t a home plate club with premium seating like many other ballparks are doing, so you can get regular field level seats right behind home plate. On the field level they do check your tickets more than other ballparks as the ushers at each section check your tickets and they also know which rows haven’t been sold. For example the back few rows of section 125 weren’t sold for the second game of the series on Saturday and they were making people who sat there go to their actual seats.

Regardless of the roof being closed or open, the ballpark felt cavernous because of the beams and structure needed to support the roof along with the window panes in the outfield. The ballpark felt really big walking around and this isn’t the only one with a roof where I felt this way (Houston’s Daikin Park, Arizona’s Chase Field and Texas’ Globe Life Field all come to mind). As well, with the roof and the location where the ballpark is by itself, it makes the ballpark look really large and like a stadium where you just see it there the way you see football stadiums sticking out by themselves with nothing around them. Other ballparks, especially those in downtown, tend to have architecture and a look that blends in with their surroundings, with PNC Park being the best example of this.

One of the notable features is Bernie’s Slide where Bernie Brewer slides down a water park-like slide in left field after a Brewer hits a home run. I actually didn’t see Bernie Brewer sliding down since the only home run the Brewers hit in the series was the walk-off home run in game 2 of the series which had all the commotion of the crowd going crazy so I forgot to look up to see if he did the slide.

I would put American Family Field in my middle tier of ballparks as some of the other ballparks have better locations, good city views from the ballpark seats and some just do other things really well (variety of food, attractions around and in the ballpark like their hall of fame and other displays/attractions, the aesthetics of the ballpark, etc). Overall I enjoyed my time at American Family Field and I can see why Brewer fans really love their ballpark.

Road Trip to Toronto and Rogers Centre

Posted on by Paul

With the Padres in Toronto this past week, now was a good time to check out Rogers Centre after they finished doing the renovations the past couple of years and since I hadn’t been to Toronto before.

The Rogers Centre is located in downtown close to Union Station, about a 10-minute walk to the UP Express which is a 25 minute train ride to/from the Toronto Pearson Airport (YYZ) that you can tap with your credit card to pay $9.25 CAD each way.

The Rogers Centre is near the harbour of Lake Ontario (see the white dome in the bottom left of the pic below) right next to the CN Tower and Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada and pretty close to Scotiabank Arena where the Maple Leafs and Raptors play as well as harbour terminals to do cruises around the harbor and ferry to Toronto Island. It’s in a good location downtown so you can get to many nearby attractions and also jump on the TTC subway and trains. Uber and Lyft are pretty prevalent in Toronto as well.

I arrived at 10:30pm on a Monday night and walking around near the hotel/ballpark at midnight felt safe. There wasn’t a lot of foot or car traffic but it wasn’t quiet either.

We stayed at the Toronto Marriott City Centre Hotel, which is connected to the north end of the ballpark as it was something to experience, especially getting a room that gives you views as though you were sitting in upper level outfield seats.

The south side of the hotel has rooms that look into the ballpark from the outfield while the north side looks into the city, which is mostly looking at the train tracks that go into Union Station. The hotel has 11 floors of rooms but is 12 stories high. In the US, we think of the first floor as level 1 but at this hotel and many others I’ve seen internationally, the first level is the “Lobby” level and then level 1 starts on the next level (so that would be our level 2 in the US).

The ballpark view rooms are on levels 1-4 only while the city view rooms go from levels 1-11. It can be pretty pricey for the ballpark view rooms if you want to do the usual flexible rate booking (the one that allows you to cancel with no charge up to three days before arrival). If you really want these rooms, the best way is to do the prepay option (if you know for sure you’ll be going) as it then isn’t that much more than the flexible rate booking for a city view room.

Once you’re in the room, the view is pretty sweet:

And it’s cool to be able to see both teams’ batting practices from your room, the stadium filling up and the game itself:

Interesting about the ballpark view rooms is they only give you views into the ballpark for Blue Jays games; we stayed there until Saturday (the Padres vs Blue Jays series ended with a day game on Thursday and both teams left to play other teams on the road right after) and on Thursday night they were already setting up a stage for a concert. Doing a quick Google, I found a Post Malone concert for the following Monday and by early Friday afternoon, I saw they were draping a black cover over the entire outfield starting from right field (our room was in left field) so all the rooms wouldn’t be able to see the concert though you could still hear it.

The hotel has the Sportsnet Grill restaurant/sports bar on the Lobby level that also has views into the ballpark. To guarantee a window view, you have to make a reservation that costs $10 CAD per person and then you have to spend another $60 CAD per person in food and beverage. he food is pretty standard sports bar food with pricing to match but with things you would find in Canada (such as poutine).

For the first game of the series on Tuesday May 20, we decided to eat at the Sportsnet Grill. They have the radio broadcast on (which is pretty close to real time) but the TVs have a very noticeable delay to the action on the field. So you’re using the TVs almost like a replay system such as checking afterwards if you have a hard time seeing the ball and strike calls.

For the second game in the series, we went into the ballpark and sat on the 100 level on the first base side as the visitor’s dugout is on this side. I like that Rogers Centre has 17 different gates to enter the ballpark making it quick and easy to get into the ballpark.

The 100 level has a really large concourse where you can always see the field as you walk around and the Outfield District (the part of the 100 level in the outfield) is more of a social area with open standing areas and bars to buy drinks from like many other ballparks are now doing.

Even as you walk around the ballpark, there are a lot of standing rails so you can stand behind many sections similar to other ballparks like Petco Park regardless of what tickets you have:

They have a few local places like Mary Brown’s Chicken and Mill Street Brewery for food and beverage and then offer different options like poutine and chicken wings. The food is solid but doesn’t have the variety of many local options you see like at Petco.

I do like that the video screens are pretty large and they do show a lot of stats, including for each batted ball the exit velocity, launch angle and distance while for each pitch the speed, pitch type and break (both horizontal and vertical). One thing of note is they only show replays for the Blue Jays that are good for them, such as in the Wednesday night game when Manny Machado made errors but not when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. made an error (or any other play that benefited the Padres).

The seats have a good view though the renovation caused every seat on the 100 level to now have an obstructed view. For example, where we sat on the first base side, when a ball was hit in the corner down the foul line in right field, we couldn’t see what actually happened. I know some people don’t like this but I guess I’m just used to it since Petco has similar obstructed views.

The one other thing of note is being a dome is depending on where your seats are at, the lights can cause a glare when looking into the stands. It doesn’t affect the view of the field of play, but more for example if you’re behind home plate and then look up into the upper level stands to see the crowds up there, the lights can glare making it hard to see up there.nfortunately, the dome was closed the whole series because of the weather with rain on both Wednesday and Thursday so I didn’t get a feel for how it is when the roof is opened.

Overall I liked Rogers Centre and a place I would recommend checking out now that they’ve done the renovations. The location of Rogers Centre is great being in downtown on the water and the dome blends in with the skyline as shown in my first pic above though up close the exterior architecture doesn’t look as nice as it did when it first opened.

But inside it doesn’t feel big like other domed stadiums do, like how Daikin Park for the Houston Astros and Chase Field for the Arizona Diamondbacks both feel like large stadiums. I like the renovations they’ve done as walking around the ballpark it feels really open, modern and a great place to be (has a good social aspect to it). Definitely was a fun place to watch a game even though the Padres ended up getting swept (a story for another day, hopefully they’ll get out of their offensive funk the next time I post).