travel

Road Trip to Tampa Bay and Tropicana Field

Posted on by Paul

In my continued quest to visit all the ballparks, we headed down to Tampa Bay and specifically St. Petersburg to see the Padres play the Rays at Tropicana Field, especially after the work they did to repair the roof after Hurricane Milton, which included them doing some other enhancements as well.

The series was a disaster for the Padres who got swept and found ways to blow all three games in excruciating fashion but I’ll focus on the ballpark itself.

Tropicana Field is located about 20 miles from Tampa International Airport and really you have to use a car to get there. The ballpark is located about 1-2 miles away from downtown St. Petersburg, which is a nice downtown area with great waterfront/pier access and plenty of restaurants and bars in the area.

However, next to the ballpark there really isn’t anything but parking lots and some housing and hotels but it’s not really an area to hang around before/after the games. The majority of the hotels are in downtown St. Pete and they offer shuttles to/from Rays games.

We stayed at a hotel only a couple of blocks away from the ballpark, though we did go downtown St. Pete as the city offers the Central Avenue Trolley and Downtown Looper as free options to get around downtown and between downtown and the main train station. We ended up using an Uber to go downtown with how hot and humid it was in at the end of August but those are public transportation options if the weather cooperates or you have some flexibility.

At the time we arrived in Tampa Bay, they announced public funding approval for a new ballpark which would be built in Tampa near the Buccaneers’ football stadium. That’s been the argument against Tropicana Field and being over in St. Pete making it hard to get to for many locals in the Tampa Bay region. I don’t have a good feel since I went straight from the airport over to St. Pete and stayed there the whole time so it wasn’t bad in my experience but I only made that round trip once and during non-rush hour traffic times.

Coming up on Tropicana Field and being that it’s a domed ballpark, it looks pretty nondescript.

Once inside, I didn’t realize at first that they had odd-numbered sections on the third base side and even- numbered sections on the first base side. So it went 101, 103, 105, etc going towards third base and then 102, 104, 106, etc on going towards first base. This is like how Petco Park is but the signs didn’t make it as noticeable.

The ballpark is much more intimate and smaller than I expected, especially since there is only limited seats in the outfield:

And as we started walking towards the third base side, I saw a sign to go down towards the Field level, with stairs to go down and an escalator to go up. My assumption was this was to continue on the current first level of the ballpark I was on (which was behind the lower level 100s seats) but actually the way the ballpark works is once you get to the foul poles, you can continue into a corridor that allows you to walk the concourse in the outfield where you can still see the field.

Otherwise you can go down to the Field level to walk around a lower level in the outfield. Both levels allow access to the seats in the outfield, with the Field level going up stairs and the outfield concourse going down stairs.

The Field level is walking through a tunnel so it reminds me of really old stadiums where you’re walking underground, complete with stairs to get to seats.

They do try to brighten up the Field level with some nice exhibits along the way:

And once you get to center field, you reach Gate 1 which has a nice looking grand entrance into the ballpark:

This entrance is the nicest looking entrance in the ballpark as the other entrances tend to be just regular entrances like you would see entering a building.

On the upper outfield concourse, it is nice to be able to walk around and see the field and in this case be able to literally walk in front of their video board when you walk in right field. Only in the outfield can you see the field as behind home plate and in the upper level its all walking through tunnels to get to seats as those concourses are behind the stands with no view of the field.

In left field they have ADA seats and general admission seats while the seats in right field are standing room only (SRO) with drink rails which is the only place in the ballpark that has SRO options.

They do have the Budweiser Porch straight away in center field which is a nice social area to get food and drink and hang out.

As well, next to the Budweiser Porch is the Rays Touch Tank with stingrays swimming in a 10,000 gallon tank that kids can touch. I thought this was a nice attraction considering the team name and something for kids to do.

Once we sat down for the game, the biggest thing I noticed is how easy it is to lose the ball in the white roof. Besides the quirks with the ball hitting the catwalks, once a ball is hit into the air, it was extremely easy to lose where the ball went. I know it wasn’t just me as I heard a Rays fan behind me tell his friend “once the ball goes above the net, I always lose the ball with the white backdrop.”

I couldn’t imagine having to deal with this all season as it makes the game much less enjoyable when it’s that difficult to track the ball. Other than losing the ball, since the ballpark is pretty small, the views of the seats are actually pretty good and it doesn’t feel large or far away like going to some other ballparks.

Another thing is this ballpark still has both bulllpens on the field down the foul line, something you’re seeing less and less of nowadays in baseball.

They do have a few national brands of food but most of the food is locally inspired. They do have a food hall on both sides of the infield, one at 119 on the third base side and one at 120 on the first base that are both carbon copies of each other:

For food, I found the options to be decent but more expensive than I expected. My souvenir soda (which included free refills) was $18.50. There aren’t many food options outside around the ballpark unless you want to start downtown before you get here but it isn’t exactly walking distance. So you don’t have the outside food and drink options the way you have at the many ballparks that are in downtown or have ballpark villages right outside/near the ballpark.

The video board in right field isn’t large compared to other ballparks but it is big enough considering how small the ballpark is. They do have limited ribbon boards compared to other ballparks, but they do show enough information including showing pitching information (including pitch break) and cycling through out of town scores.

In between innings they do a variety of things pretty regularly throughout the game including the t-shirt toss, trivia games, mascot race and different cams like the SpongeBob look a like cam. So they do try to keep the fans entertained throughout the entire game versus some places where all they do is play music,

I did find it funny and kinda cool that the Rays jumped on the Tarps Off trend and have a section in left field called the Tarps Off Territory.

Overall, Tropicana Field was what I expected based on what others have said about it. It’s in the lower tier of ballparks when you consider everything (location, what it offers, what’s around it, etc) and why I can see the Rays have wanted a new ballpark for some time. I was surprised at how small it felt inside there as it does have an intimate feel to it. But other than that, it is pretty barebones so I’ll be looking forward to returning to Tampa when the new ballpark opens.

Road Trip to Cleveland and Progressive Field

Posted on by Paul

Continuing on the quest to see all 30 ballparks, we made a trip to Cleveland to see the Padres play the Guardians at Progressive Field.

Located at the south part of downtown Cleveland, Progressive Field is right next to Rocket Arena (where the Cavaliers play) and is accessible by rail (train) from the airport on the Red Line. You get off at the Tower City station and then it’s about a 1/2 mile to the ballpark. The ride is close to 30 minutes from the airport so we ended up taking an Uber which was only a 15-minute ride since we arrived on Friday later afternoon and wanted some time to explore the ballpark.

The ballpark has been around since 1994 and was the first wave of new ballparks (with Baltimore’s Oriole Park) and they’ve done a nice job of maintaining and continually renovating it including recent renovations finished before the 2025 season. The capacity has been reduced from a peak of 45,569 in 2010 to the current capacity of 34,830 which can have higher attendance numbers when you include the SRO tickets they sell.

Walking around the ballpark in the infield, at first I only noticed the enclosed concourse that’s blocked by the different stands and club areas from seeing the field but then I realized that there’s a parallel walkway right in front of the stands/clubs as well.

For example, in this picture below where I was near the right field foul pole going towards home plate, you can see the two walkways, the one on the right that has a view of the field and the one on the far left that’s behind the stands:

Here is what it looks like walking the inner concourse (the one you go to on the left from the picture above):

And what it looks like walking on the right one that has a view of the field:

And another example where you can see the two parallel walkways (with a sweet Cleveland mural and the Guardians from the Hope Memorial Bridge):

First time I’ve seen this where you had both walkways, which helps to avoid having too much traffic on the concourse. The one negative is there really isn’t standing room only in the infield as they draw yellow and blue lines so people know where they can walk and to keep moving:

The yellow line is behind the seats, generally behind accessible seating, while the blue line is where you can line up for the stands. Talking to one of the ushers near 1st base, he said you can stand behind the blue line for standing room only (SRO) but this sign says otherwise:

And during the game I didn’t really see people standing in the infield except for waiting in line to get food and drink.

So there really isn’t standing room areas in the infield, but down near the foul poles and in the outfield on multiple levels, there are an abundance of places to stand with drink rails. From going down to left field to center field behind the bullpens to right field and then going up to the Terrace Garden and Terrace Hall as well as right field on the top 400/500 level, you can usually find a spot to stand.

While it’s missing the infield SRO, it’s still nice there are a lot of options down near the foul poles and in the outfield on multiple levels and I really like how they’ve built out many group and social areas like the Right Field District. This combined with $1 hot dogs and $2 Miller Lite beer cans pregame specials in the Right Field District for the Friday and Saturday night games I went to and it creates a great atmosphere and tons of energy at the ballpark. They’ve really made Guardians games a place to go which is a great recipe for big crowds regardless of how the team may be doing.

In terms of the outfield seating, left field underneath the massive wide videoboard is still bench seating and you walk underneath the bleachers with no view of the field here. Center field to right field is wide open with views of the field along with the aforementioned SRO.

As well, in center field is Heritage Park, honoring past Cleveland greats. It’s a really nice touch to see all the different players throughout Cleveland’s history and definitely worth going through to look around. Because it is in center field right next to the Right Field District, you do tend to get a lot of people hanging out in this area as part of the pregame activities (the $1 hot dogs and $2 beers previously mentioned).

The SRO right behind the bullpens in center field is nice and gets you really close to the bullpens as you’re literally on top of the visitors bullpen which is stacked right behind the home bullpen. There is the Lower Reserved Bullpen sections right in front of the bullpens, four small sections with 2-3 rows of padded seats that feel kinda private since the ushers check your seats and give you a wristband to go in and out of the sections.

In right field near section 113 there’s the Field View Bullpen, which allows you to go down stairs to where the visitors bullpen used to be (before they moved it to the aforementioend stacked level in center field as part of renovations before the 2015 season). There’s a line for it and they allow 25 people to watch a full inning there before switching out for the next 25 lined up. It’s definitely a nice touch and a cool thing to check.

One benefit I like is they do have a re-entry policy at Progressive Field where they will scan your ticket so you can come back in, similar to Petco Park. The norm around the league tends to be to not allow re-enter so places this I find very useful, especially if you’re staying nearby like we were in a hotel only a block away.

One thing I didn’t notice until reading up on the ballpark more before going on Saturday is the Family Deck section in right field on the 300 level that you take an escalator to from the ground (100) level. This area has a good number things for kids to do including a small batting cage, playground, a home plate to 1st base timed sprint, pitching cage as well as tables and SRO drink rails. It’s definitely a good area for the kids to play. But being on the second level I can see this as a place that’s easily missed (I didn’t notice it all at the first game we went to) unless you know about it or do the exploring that I did.

While the ballpark does have downtown Cleveland in the background, the skyline isn’t that populated since there aren’t as many tall buildings in the area. I went up to the upper level briefly but wasn’t able to really see too far into downtown or Lake Erie. So it doesn’t have the skyline of some of the other downtown ballparks.

The massive wide video board and the accompanying ribbon boards around the ballpark provide good stats and good clear replays. For someone like me that cares about the ballpark technology, these video screens are top-notch and provide good information and they repeat the information throughout the ribbon boards (i.e. the counts and pitch information like pitch type, horizontal break and vertical break show on ribbon boards in right field, 1st base and 3rd base) so it makes it easy to find and see from most places in the ballpark. For the first game, we sat behind home plate and the second game in the outfield and it was easy to keep up to date in either sport. The one thing is they only show out-of-town scores on the ribbon underneath the big video board and only in between innings. Left field would be a place I’d avoid since besides bench seating, there isn’t another video board in the ballpark so you wouldn’t be able to see the videos and also the ribbon board underneath with the out-of-town scores.

In terms of the seating, the views are good throughout the ballpark as nothing felt far as I tried different vantage points. For the most part, the seats are slanted towards home plate, though there are weird quirks, such as section 519 where the seats are angled in a weird way (I’m surprised they didn’t remove these seats as part of the renovations).

For food, they do have local options like Happy Dog, Momocho, Barrio and Perry’s Ice Cream along with ballpark fare. The Slider Dog from Happy Dog with pimento mac and cheese, crumbled bacon, and froot loops was interesting to try but wasn’t the best exotic hot dog I’ve tried. Getting a hot dog and putting ball park mustard on it is definitely something I would do as I found the mustard to have a good flavor to it. After you get your hot dog from a stand, go to the nearby condiments stand and you’ll find the mustard there with ketchup, regular mustard, napkins and utensils.

Otherwise the rest of the food was decent but the surrounding area has good food options, including East 4th Street, which has many restaurants and bars. The area around the ballpark is somewhere you can hang out before a game when coming downtown with a variety of food and drink options and the type of scenes you’re seeing other ballparks try to replicate but in that they own all the surrounding entertainment (like in Atlanta with the Battery). I prefer areas like this in downtown Cleveland (and similarly in downtown San Diego with the Gaslamp Quarter) where it’s more organic versus something the team is controlling. And my preference would be to go eat at one of these areas before the game versus eating at the ballpark.

During the game, they try to keep the crowd involved with things between innings like the flex cam, trivia and other contests. It’s not every inning but pretty often so it keeps the crowd involved. The biggest thing was the Hot Dog Derby race, their version of the mascot race on the field with hot dog condiments that the crowd got really excited for. They do “Get Loud” and “2 Strikes” on the board to get the crowd going in key moments of the game as well. One interesting thing is they do the cap shuffle before the game.

Overall, Progressive Field is a nice ballpark and I really like how they’ve continued to renovate it to make it a place to go to. Even though the ballpark is now 32 years old, it doesn’t feel or look old as they’ve done a great job maintaining it. In terms of amenities they’ve done everything to make it the place to go to for everyone, whether its for those who want to go with groups or social areas, bring their kids, the corporate (with the suites and club areas) or those who there to just watch the game since the capacity has been made intimate with most seats having good sightlines.

Progressive Field is how I hope other teams want to maintain their ballparks to keep them modern and places people want to continue going to, versus deferring maintenance and expecting a new ballpark/stadium to be built as you’ve seen with other teams and other sports leagues. It’s definitely a place I would recommend visiting.

Road Trip to Kansas City and Kauffman Stadium

Posted on by Paul

With the Padres playing in Kansas City right after the All Star Break, now was a good time to check out Kauffman Stadium and try some of the famous KC BBQ.

Kauffman Stadium is located about 10 miles from downtown KC, situated right next to Arrowhead Stadium, with both surrounded by large parking lots and right next to a couple of highways.

So there really isn’t anything nearby in the area and you really have to get here by car. There are a few hotels nearby (1-2 miles away) but most people recommend staying downtown and then driving/ubering to the game. Even places like Gates BBQ or Dixon’s Chili that are popular spots to eat prior to the game are a mile or two away that you will need to drive to.

The stadium opened in 1973 so it has the cookie-cutter design from the 1960s and 1970s but they have done a good job of maintaining and renovating it over the years.

Walking around the ballpark on the Plaza level, you are able to see the field unlike some other older stadiums where the concourse is closed off from the field.

Not surprisingly being an older stadium, the concourse has an overhang (for holding the seating sections above the 100s/200s) so it can feel enclosed and when it’s a large crowd, get a little cramped walking around.

Most of the food stands were locally inspired and do they have a solid craft beer selection but I didn’t notice too many local restaurants other than Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que, which I highly recommend trying, especially if you can go to one of their restaurant locations. The BBQ at Joe’s lives up to the hype and the wait; we went to the original gas station location and even though we got there at 8pm on a weeknight, the line was still out the door and ended up being a 45-minute wait but the BBQ was top-notch.

The rest of the food is decent but not great, which goes with what I saw looking online and at the Royals reddit. Many people recommend eating elsewhere like the many places around downtown before coming here (since you have to drive here in any case) and I agree with them.

One interesting thing is they only have standing room only around the foul poles into the outfield:

This could be because of the concourse having an overhang in the infield and so they can have all the different concession stands, whereas it opens up to be more wide open (with no overhang) at the foul poles.

They do a great job honoring the Royals history here as the Hall of Fame in the outfield is a pretty good size and has a lot of information on Kansas City’s baseball history and its connection to Cooperstown. It’s free to enter once you get in the ballpark so definitely recommend stopping by for a visit.

As well, the statues line the outfield right above the fountains:

Speaking of the fountains, since Kansas City is known as the City of Fountains, it is one of the signature touches of the ballpark (along with the crown-shaped big videoboard known as CrownVision) and it is a nice touch. They usually have the fountains shooting up water pregame, between innings and during moments of the game.

Also in the outfield is a pretty large kids area that includes a playground, pitching mound, batting cage, a miniature field (similar to what they have at Petco Park) as well as a kids team store. They do a great job of keeping the kids entertained here, more so than any other ballpark I’ve been to with Atlanta being another one that’s comparable.

In terms of views, the views are pretty good at different places and seats throughout the ballpark as it doesn’t feel too far away or too high and you can get a good view of the action on the field.

The only negative is being an older ballpark, the seats are facing straight forward versus angled towards home plate. So for example, where we sat behind the photo well next to the visitor’s dugout on the third base side, I had to angle myself to the right to face home plate, which wasn’t too bad since the seat next to me was empty.

I do like that the seats are labeled for long-time season ticket holders:

During the game, they do try to have consistent in-game entertainment between innings, things like the cap shuffle, flex cam, kiss cam and their hot dog derby, which is their version of the big heads racing on the field. But maybe because of the size of the crowd on a Friday night (close to 26K), people didn’t really get into these bits on a consistent basis. Like the hot dog derby, the Salute to Service, kiss cam and when they showed the guys in the upper level doing “Tarps Off” did you hear the crowd get into it. For the other bits, if you weren’t looking at the screen you wouldn’t have even noticed them since they don’t say too much about many of them (i.e. they don’t have a DJ intro the bit like other ballparks) and the crowd didn’t see to be paying attention to them.

They do display the advanced pitching and hitting stats on the LED ribbon board in right field and the big videoboard known as “CrownVison” contains all the stats you normally expect to see.

Because the video board is so tall (and was upgraded with newer technology in 2021), you can see things pretty clearly on the video board. Even though most ballparks now are going for a wider screen (like how your TV is wide), the CrownVision board with a taller height worked pretty well to display information and replays. And I like that it gives a distinct look to it matching the Royals and their crown theme.

Overall, the Royals have done a good job maintaining Kauffman Stadium for a ballpark built in the 1970s. It is limited because of the structure/design and location when compared to modern ballparks built in the 2000s and doesn’t have the old-time charm of the classic ballparks like Wrigley or Fenway. But overall, it does hold up better than some of the other older ballparks like Angel Stadium and even some of the 1990s ballparks like Chase Field, Rate Field and Tropicana Field. I have it right in the middle tier of ballparks so it’s worth a visit to see as well as try the great KC BBQ.

Road Trip to Baltimore and Oriole Park at Camden Yards

Posted on by Paul

Oriole Park at Camden Yards has been on my list to visit since it’s credited with starting the retro look craze and building distinct ballparks as we got away from the cookie-cutter multi-purpose stadium phase.

The ballpark is located to the west of the Inner Harbor in downtown Baltimore. We took the MTA Light RailLink from the BWI airport which is $2 one way per person and takes about 30 minutes to the Camden or Convention Center stations, which are both a block away from an entrance to the ballpark.

I’ve read online how people say the Light RailLink isn’t the best since it can have disruptions or delays often and Uber is cheap to the ballpark (I checked and it was about $20 on a Thursday around 2:30pm) but since we had some time, we figured we’d try it out. The ride was pretty smooth and easy and I would recommend it for those traveling light. That’s because it’s a 10-15 minute walk to the station on the bottom level of the airport and there isn’t room to store your luggage on the Light RailLink. We just held our carry-on suitcases in front of us and it wasn’t busy but I can see that being more difficult if you have large suitcases.

The ballpark is about half a mile north of the Baltimore Ravens’ M&T Bank Stadium. Directly around the area isn’t much except a small area right in front with Pickles Pub (more on that later) so you have to go about half a mile to get to the Inner Harbor and/or the rest of downtown to find things to do. Otherwise, the area right around the ballpark itself is pretty quiet.

Incorporating the B&O Warehouse into the right field backdrop is a great touch. It gives the stadium skyline a nice look as otherwise you wouldn’t see much beyond the outfield:

They have gates on both ends of the warehouse on Eutaw Street to enter, with Gate H at the north end of Eutaw Street featuring the Orioles’ retired numbers outside as well as a statue of Babe Ruth. I didn’t know Babe Ruth was born in Baltimore until researching what to do in the city and seeing that the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum is a couple of blocks away. The museum is definitely worth a visit if you’re a baseball nut to see some of the Bambino’s artifacts.

Once we entered and walked around on the field level, I noticed the concourse was pretty wide, making it easy to walk around.

The negative is when you go into the part with an overhang (under the club level and upper deck seating so basically everywhere except most of the outfield), you don’t have a view of the field as you walk around and/or get food and beverages. To access the seats, you go through tunnels in between the stands such as this:

As a result, you don’t have the standing room areas behind the seating sections in the infield or down the line that many of the new ballparks have. They do have standing room only in the outfield, which includes left field above the bullpens, right field right next to the foul pole and you can stand behind two rows of reserved seating in the Coors Light Roof Deck above the batter’s eye:

The one interesting thing is I tried to take the escalator to the upper deck level (not the club level) to walk around and check it out but the ushers at the escalator wouldn’t let me go up there unless I had a ticket for those sections (and my ticket was in the field level). I know some ballparks restrict areas based on tickets (like the Bleachers at Wrigley Field) so Oriole Park is one of those. They actually didn’t check tickets in the actual sections as they had an usher at each section and when I walked in they just asked me if I knew where to find my seats (without looking at my tickets), most likely because I had Padres gear on so they assumed I wasn’t local.

Food-wise, the Orioles have locally known restaurants like Stuggy’s and Attman’s Deli as well as stands that were inspired by local cuisine and became fan favorites like Boog’s BBQ (a BBQ stand named after former Orioles All-Star first baseman Boog Powell). I will commend the Orioles in that they have self-serve soda stations all over the ballpark so if you get a souvenir cup (which is the only fountain soda option though some stands sell soda by the 20-ounce bottle), you can use it over and over again.

The food is decent but it may be better to eat outside around the area or even right in front of the ballpark at Pickles Pub, which along with the restaurants next door have a nice setup to eat before and after the game.

The Orioles also do a good job of capturing their history with various displays and statues around the ballpark, including having former players sign autographs for free:

In terms of the views around the outfield (since that’s really the only place you can go that is standing room only), the views themselves are pretty good as nothing feels too far away.

Once you sit down in your seats, the seats themselves are pretty small in width and the rows are extremely tight. We sat in section 44 row 8 which is four sections over from directly behind home plate and a couple of sections before you get to the sections behind the visitors dugout on the 3rd base side. So I would expect these seats to be the typical size of seats in the ballpark.

I’m not sure if the above pictures really capture how small the seats are or how tight the rows are. We were sitting next to a couple of season ticket holders who were normal-sized men and they decided to move to the row behind us as they said it would allow us all to have some space to breathe (and the row behind us had four open seats). As well, for the second game we went to, the mom sitting next to me mentioned to her young kids she didn’t want to get up until they had to go since we were “packed in like sardines”.

The seats are angled straight ahead in each section so if you are sitting down the line past 1st or 3rd base, you’ll be angled towards 2nd base and you’ll have to turn your head to face home plate. It does become difficult to watch a game in your seat this way and something newer ballparks have recognized and why they angled their seats towards home plate.

For 2026, the Orioles installed a new video board along with new ribbon boards and a sound system that puts it in line with other ballparks. For people like me who like the tech in ballparks, this does make it a more enjoyable experience and I found the technology to make it a good ballpark experience.

One minor nitpick is they do jam pack the video board with a lot of information, which made it hard to find all the information right away. In the first inning, I couldn’t find the pitcher’s total pitch count until I really looked for it and actually a person next to me commented the same thing a few innings later which I then pointed him to where it was.

In terms of in-game entertainment, they do things like their version of the hat shuffle (which is a crab shuffle that makes sense given its Baltimore), a hot dog race (similar to the big head races at other ballparks), the lookalike cam, t-shirt toss and scoreboard surprises. They don’t do things every half inning like they do at Petco as some innings they’re just playing music.

Overall Oriole Park is definitely a ballpark to visit and one I enjoyed visiting. Though it has some quirks and issues as mentioned above like the seats, no field view as you walked around the concourse, a decent (but not great) food selection and not as much directly around the ballpark, it’s still a great ballpark and one of the better ones out there. Not to mention it started the whole renaissance we’re in now with building great ballparks.

I’ll leave with this new skyline as the sun started setting:

Road Trip to Mexico City and Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú

Posted on by Paul

With the Padres playing in Mexico City (CDMX) again, we took another trip to go back to Mexico City and Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú (went in 2023 when the Padres were there the first time) so some thoughts from a visit to the city and ballpark this time:

  • If you’re flying from San Diego, using the CBX is super easy to get into the Tijuana International Airport (TIJ) to fly to CDMX and also when you get back to cross back into SD. You do have to Uber to right next to the border or park there but the process of going back and forth is super easy and I can’t recommend it enough for flying anywhere in Mexico.
  • Had no issues getting an Uber from the airport when flying into Benito Juarez International Airport (MEX). There had been talk about taxis protesting making it hard for Uber drivers to pick up from the airport but they were able to pick us up no problem curbside outside the gates. The only problem I ran into with Uber for the first time since I’ve been using it is the driver picked up someone else for my ride (I could literally see the car pulling away 50 feet from me with other people in the car) and the app showing my ride had started. I tried waving the driver down but he didn’t see me but the app made it super easy to cancel the right and say the reason was a wrong pickup.
  • Traffic around CDMX continues to be gnarly. To get from the airport to our hotel in Reforma, it took almost an hour on a Thursday night at 9pm even though it was 12.6 km (7.8 miles). Trying to get from the Reforma area to the Frida Kahlo Museum took an hour and 30 minutes on a Friday afternoon due to the afternoon traffic even though that was only 11.5 km (7.1 miles). Anywhere we went took some time with traffic that we had to alter our plans and give more time. We thought about using the Metro but the subway station was a bit away from our hotel and then we’d have to walk even further at stops so it ended up being the same time.
  • The food here is cheap and great. I see the Mexican food as done differently than what you can get in San Diego (they’re not big on burritos in CDMX) so I really like both types of Mexican food. Food is definitely one of the highlights of going to CDMX.
  • My flight home was on Sunday night at 9:40pm and since Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú is only 3.5 km (2.2 miles) away from the stadium, I first went to the airport to leave my bags and then from there went to the ballpark. Both terminals have lockers for baggage storage located before security and you can leave your suitcases there for 300 pesos each per 24 hours. So with the 2pm game on Sunday, we left at 11am to go to the airport (took about 45 minutes), dropped off the bags and went to the game. You can take the Metro to get to the ballpark but Uber is easy (especially being available from the aiport as mentioned above) and cheap.
  • Teotihuacan which is about an hour northeast of the city is definitely worth a visit. I would recommend either using a tour or taking the bus they have to go there. Getting an Uber there is no problem but on the way back, considering the remoteness of it, it’s hard to get a ride back and the Uber drivers that are around may try to scam you into canceling the Uber ride and instead paying them cash at an absurd price. The Pyramid of the Moon currently allows you to walk up to the middle, taking about 50 steep steps to get to this point.

Once you get to the middle, it’s a great view to see the steps to go up even higher (which are blocked off):

As well as see the Pyramid of the Sun to the southeast:

The Pyramid to the Sun is blocked from walking up it:

Our tour guide mentioned they were originally planning to allow people to walk up the Pyramid of the Sun temporarily during the World Cup season but that was paused after the recent shooting on top of the Pyramid of the Moon. Even though we were there only four days after the shooting, we felt it would be safe and there was a heavy police presence there to get into the site and around the site as well. Would definitely recommend visiting if you’re going to CDMX.

  • Now onto Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú. The ballpark’s main gate is Gate (Puerta) 8, which has a walkway and bridge that goes to the main entrance:

Once you cross over the bridge, you get a great view of the ballpark:

In the last Mexico City series with the Padres, they used the two-level Tienda Diablos store at the ballpark to hold all the merch but this time they expanded it to a tent in front of the store:

Like 2023, there was a lot of merch only available here that you couldn’t find online or at local New Era stores in CDMX. So a lot of other people had the same idea to get here when the gates opened three hours before game time to see the merch available:

And just like last time, the merch sold out quickly in popular sizes, leaving only super large or super small sizes available later in this game when you could just walk into the store. Here’s some of the gear they had:

The ballpark holds roughly 20K and the walkways do get super crowded with a capacity crowd making it hard to walk around.

They do restrict the outfield to only those who have tickets there so you can’t go out there unless you have a ticket for those seats. And since the outfield isn’t fully connected (you can’t walk from left to right field as the batter’s eye separates it and they don’t have a walkway behind), you will only want to enter the outfield seats from down the line i.e. left field from the third base line and right field from the first base line.

While walking around the ballpark gives good views of the field,

The views from the seats themselves have some challenges. If you sit behind home plate, you have a good view:

But the vendors are constantly walking up and down throughout the entire game (all the way until the 9th inning), so your view is constantly blocked by them. It’s great so you don’t have to leave your seats as the seat vendors sell many of the items from the stands but it’s simlar to how some ballparks allow people to walk up and down anytime during the game your view being blocked as a result.

If you sit further down the line (like around third base), the seats are facing straight towards the field right in front of you, versus being angled towards home plate like many of the new ballparks. It reminds me of how the old cookie-cutter stadiums all had seats facing straight ahead. So as a result, you angle/lean forward toward home plate which blocks the person next to you from seeing home plate and everyone ends up doing the same thing.

Going here on occasion is great to experience, especially with the Padres coming back to win the first game and the energy in the building with the large contingent of Padres fans. The energy and noticing the little differences (like how they list batter’s stats as 4-1 meaning 1 hit in 4 at bats versus the US approach of 1-4), the 7th inning stretch in Spanish, etc all make it a fun time.

Though there are the limitations of being a small ballpark and the seat views that would impact me if I was going to games all season like back ato Petco, I would recommend Mexico City as a place to visit and catching a MLB World Tour game there as it’s definitely an experience.

Quick Road Trip to Anaheim and Angel Stadium

Posted on by Paul

With Anaheim actually the closest ballpark to San Diego and the Padres playing the Angels on the weekend, decided to go up there yesterday to catch a game. I’ve been to Angel Stadium a handful of times over the years after they introduced interleague play, with my first time in 2001 during Tony Gwynn’s last season.

I remember back in 2001 the Angels doing a short ceremony before the game for Tony Gwynn being it was his last season (I went to the first game of the series) and liked the renovations the Angels did back then after the Rams left. I walked around the ballpark then and what stood out was that the views were good whether you were in the upper level or in the outfield beyond the bullpens in left field as it still didn’t feel far away like some other ballparks.

A few notes on Angel Stadium in 2026:

  • It’s pretty easy and quick to exit off the freeway (we exited about 12:30pm for the 1:07pm start) but it does back up when you’re at the road right in front of the ballpark. In this case, we entered at the State College entrance coming from the State College Blvd exit off the 5 freeway and it was backed up from the Orangewood Ave and S State College Blvd intersection. That part took us about 15 minutes to go one block since there’s only one right turn lane from this direction into the parking entrance.
  • The large parking lot around the stadium is great for tailgating and reminds me of the old Qualcomm Stadium days. They are starting to build more apartments (with businesses at the bottom) around the area but there still really aren’t a lot of places to go within walking distance, like how Disneyland and the Anaheim Convention Center have many restaurants around them on the other side of the freeway.
  • As a result, the skyline of the ballpark is pretty blank as shown in the pictures below since there really isn’t much around it.
  • Seats continue to have a good view as shown in the pictures below. First base (visitor’s dugout) side is the sun side for day games (like Petco Park) so definitely get in the 200s if you want to be behind the visiting team and in the shade. Being this was mid-April, we sat in row Z of section 124, which was the last row of the section and we were in the shade the whole game. So early games you have shade if you’re in the last 2-3 rows of the 100s as shown in my pictures below.
  • The video boards they upgraded in 2018 still hold up well and provide good views for replays. They don’t show advanced metrics like you see at other ballparks for pitching and batting as all you saw was the speed of the pitch and what type of pitch (“92 MPH Changeup”).
  • One thing I found interesting is the Angels’ bullpen is the one closest to the stands with the visitors in front next to the outfield. I figured they would be like other teams where the visitors are the closer one to the fans so that the fans can bother/heckle the visiting team’s bullpen pitchers more than the Angels.

I don’t put Angel Stadium high in my list of rankings but for just watching a game like I did yesterday (didn’t really walk around or anything being we got there right before game time and I’ve been here before), Angels Stadium provides good views and the prices are comparable if not slightly cheaper than Petco for a weekend game. So if you just want to watch a game, Angel Stadium is still good for this but as I put in my reviews of other ballparks, all the other amenities, design, surroundings, etc is what make the top ballparks what they are.

Road Trip to Boston and Fenway Park

Posted on by Paul

With the 2026 started, it’s time to resume my chase to see all 30 ballparks and no better way to start this season than Fenway Park, which along with Wrigley Field, are considered the two must see classic ballparks.

Starting from a hotel in the Back Bay area of Boston about a mile away, it was an easy walk over to the ballpark and the ballpark’s location is easy to get to in general, with a couple of subway stations nearby.

We entered the ballpark at Jersey Street (formerly Yawkey Way) where they do security and ticket scanning versus at the gate of the ballpark itself. I like this as it allowed the blocked off street to be a place where they had food, music, the team store and other entertainment to hang out before entering the ballpark.

A nice touch on Jersey Street is the starting lineup using retro-style Topps baseball cards:

As well, on the backside of the Green Monster (Lansdowne St) is the Bleacher Bar (that allows you a peek of center field) and other bars and food that are open to anyone without a ticket:

Once you enter the ballpark, depending on which entrance you go into (we entered from Jersey Street which covers Gate A and Gate D), you may end up in the tunnels underneath the grandstands which can get pretty crowded and hard to navigate with large crowds and how small these tunnels are, which is expected considering the design when these ballparks were built over a hundred years ago. Other entrances enter more opened areas but entering under the grandstands, it is pretty tight to walk around.

But I do like that you can still walk around and see the field like newer ballparks in certain parks, like there’s a walkway behind the grandstand level, even if the walkway is small in some areas:

And they do have standing room only around most of the ballpark and on every level (except the box level where you can enter from the aforementioned tunnel underneath the grandstand), even if they uniquely do it like in right field where you’re standing elevated behind the narrow walkway:

I’m a big fan of places that have standing room only so you can go around to see different vantage points, even if it’s just for a few innings or as you’re walking to get food and drink.

Of course the grandstand is where you have the beams blocking your view and depending on how you view it, they still have the old school chairs:

Some might find this quaint and keeping with the old school look while others might not like this at all because the seats are uncomfortable plus your limited sightlines with beams blocking some of your view. We sat in the loge box in front of the grandstands so they had more standard seats and no beams so didn’t have this issue but I can see those who sit back knocking Fenway down a notch because of this.

Walking around the ballpark, they have group/bar areas as well as a kids area, things to allow for socializing as well as activities for the kids. I do like how they’re doing these things to keep people entertained and make baseball attractive to those who want it to be a social event too.

I get how baseball purists may not like this since the focus should be on the game but to really get the crowds to keep coming out and make the ballpark a place to be, you do need all these things to keep the casual fans coming. Because to me, having a ballpark that people want to go and with full crowds gives it so much energy that is substantially better than a small 10-15K crowd of hardcore fans.

As far as food options, the ballpark has food that’s locally inspired, like lobster rolls and clam chowder, along with what you see as standard ballpark fares, with hot dogs, burgers, chicken tenders and fries. Jersey Street has more options but it doesn’t have the variety and/or featuring local eateries as you see in other ballparks. There are a good number of restaraunts outside the ballpark so that’s the better option to grab something to eat before getting to the ballpark.

I found the ballpark to have pretty good views in the different areas we visited. It does seem to have obstructed views no matter where you sit, similar to how new ballparks are designed in that you may not see a small portion of the field, like sitting in Loge Box 137 you couldn’t see the left field corner right where the foul line meets the warning track. But I considered that part of how ballparks are now in order to get away from the cookie-cutter circle/oval design.

While watching the game, I did notice that the netting right behind home plate goes over the seating and right up to the second level so any foul balls hit right behind home plate would roll back down to the field where the ballboy would be waiting to grab them. Found that interesting to add that extra layer of protection (which I actually don’t mind with how hard hit some of these foul balls are and taking some off my hands in the past that flew right over the netting). This netting over the seats is strictly only in the few sections right behind home plate as the rest of the netting down the foul line is the standard netting that goes straight up in front of the stands.

The other nice touch is how the LED boards behind home plate that show the box score, balls/strikes/outs and the batter are colored in green to match the rest of the awning (the ones not showing ads that is), which I found to be a nice touch to blend into the rest of the ballpark.

As well, you can’t help but enjoy the old school scoreboard on the Green Monster and manually updating it:

In keeping with the old school theme, they don’t show advanced pitching metrics (horizontal break, vertical break) but interestingly they do show advanced batting metrics (distance, launch angle and bat speed) on the replay of the ball the batter gets a hit on or an out.

And in between innings, they generally just play music (though it does include contemporary music and not just organ music), with minimal entertainment like you see at the newer ballparks that play skits, contests and games with fans/players, have the in-game announcer trying to hype you up to make noise, etc. It goes with the old school vibes that the ballpark tries to still maintain while doing updates to work in the new age.

Overall I really liked Fenway Park and can see why it’s a baseball cathedral you must visit. The tickets are quite expensive when compared to other ballparks for similar seats but it definitely is in my top tier of ballparks and one that I would recommend anyone check out a game at least one time.

Road Trip to New York and Citi Field

Posted on by Paul

With the current Southwest Companion Pass promotional period in effect, we decided to make a quick trip to New York to see the Padres play the Mets and revisit Citi Field since I personally hadn’t been there in 14 years.

Back when I went back in 2011, I remember liking the design of the ballpark and overall the ballpark experience so was looking forward to seeing it again.

First thing is the ballpark is pretty easy to get to on the subway as the 7 train has a stop (Mets-Willets Point station) that literally is in front of Citi Field’s main entrance. This station is also where you would get off if you were going to the tennis US Open.

The US Open grounds are on one side, Citi Field is on the other side and construction is currently underway to build Etihad Park, the new home of New York FC of MLS, across the street from Citi Field. So this area is becoming a sports complex area, which kind of reminds me of Philadelphia where they have their two stadiums and arena in an area a little outside of Downtown with the downtown Philadelphia skyline off in the background.

In this case, you have the Manhattan skyline in the background but you do have Flushing Chinatown which is a 20-minute walk (or one subway stop away) from the ballpark and where we stayed at.

From our hotel in Flushing Chinatown, you can see Citi Field and Etihad Park being built (in the bottom left corner of the picture) and the Manhattan skyline in the background:

Arriving at the main entrance from the subway station, you’re greeted with the main entrance with the Jackie Robinson Rotunda, which was inspired by Ebbets Field. The building itself has a good mix of bricks and green coloring which makes it have a nice natural look and makes it belong in the area.

Once you enter the Rotunda, you have to go up stairs/escalator to get to the field level and other levels of the ballpark. The one thing of note is once you get to the field level you can walk around the entire ballpark without having to go up/down stairs again like some ballparks (i.e. Petco Park).

Walking around the field level, it does feel tight with the large crowds the Mets are drawing and considering that it’s enclosed on top by the upper level.

They do have a good amount of standing room only around the ballpark, though there are suites behind home plate so as you walk behind home plate, your view of the field is blocked and you instead see team store stands. For places where you have standing room, they don’t have rails to hold your food but they do have cup holders:

And as you walk in the outfield, the Shea Bridge as an ode to Shea Stadium is a nice touch.

As you continue on Shea Bridge (going from right field to center field), you see their humongous video screen that stands out anywhere you go in the ballpark.

The video screen is a plus for me as I’m big on having these technology advances at a ballpark and super big video screens are a part of it. It proved pretty useful in the two games we went to, as everyone in the ballpark could clearly see that two balls hit down the left field line by Juan Soto and Fernando Tatis Jr were both foul.

What I thought was also pretty cool was behind the big video board is a social and kids area and even on the backside of the big video screen is a pretty big video screen for you to watch the game and stay up on the action as your kids are playing and/or you’re hanging out and socializing with family and friends.

Overall the ballpark has good sightlines from anywhere you sit. The upper deck can feel high and a little away from the game, especially when you’re in the upper level seats in left field.

Because of the seats in left field, the big video screen in center, there really isn’t much of a skyline for the ballpark beyond the outfield like you see with other ballparks. Right behind the ballpark in the outfield is an expressway and the Flushing Bay and then you have LaGuardia Airport to the northwest so planes are flying in the background, which probably limited what they could do here. So if you wanted to pick something that could be better compared to other ballparks, that would be one thing to nitpick at.

Foodwise, the Mets have a mixture of local NY institutions that include the big name food vendors like Shake Shack and Nathan’s Hot Dogs as well as other known NY places like Prince Street Pizza, Pat LaFrieda and Fuku. They also have food such as the Pastrami on Rye, Zeppole, lobster rolls, Goya nachos that are developed in house and pretty good in quality. Overall, they have a good selection of food with many different options that everyone should be able to find something good to eat.

Watching the game, it’s interesting that like Petco, they have a large screen (even bigger) but what’s normally on the screen when a batter is up is pretty static, maybe so as to not distract the hitters. Because they show the advanced pitching and hitting metrics (pitch horizontal break, pitch vertical break, etc) on the ribbon boards but temporarily i.e. they flash it after the pitch and then change it back to the regular information they show.

I find it interesting that ballparks like Citi Field and Petco Park don’t keep it on all the time like other ballparks (Rogers Centre comes to mind) since they have so many different LED boards they can show it on or display it on the main board itself. But obviously, the answer is they want to display ads instead.

The in-game entertainment is good, they do things to hype up the crowd like the “Make Noise” display and I like how they dim the lights during the game to get the crowd going, not strictly saving this for the closer’s entrance. In between innings, they usually do something like the cap shuffle, mascot race, different cams, karaoke, etc. to keep the fans engaged.

Overall, the Mets know that not all fans coming to games are going to be hardcore fans that watch every pitch intently. They make the game and the ballpark itself an attraction so it’s a fun place to watch a game and have a night out. I would definitely recommend checking out Citi Field as it is a nice ballpark to go to and watch a game at.

Road Trip to Minnesota and Target Field

Posted on by Paul

With travel lining up so I was in Minnesota while the Twins were home, I took the chance to check out Target Field. The ballpark is located in the northwest corner of downtown Minneapolis with the Metro Light Rail (Blue Line) making it super easy and cheap ($2 one way or $4 for an all-day pass) to get to the ballpark from the MSP airport. It takes about 30 minutes to get from the airport to the Target Field Light Rail station that is literally in front of Gate 6.

The first thing I noticed is the limestone exterior that’s like Petco Park, making it more modern looking versus the retro feel some of the other ballparks built in the past 30 years are going for.

I personally like this more modern look though incidentally it doesn’t blend into the surrounding buildings as much since most of the buildings around the ballpark have more of the dark red/brick look to them, including the nearby Target Center arena.

Walking on the outside of Target Field, I liked how they have statues of Twins legends along with banners and other indicators to celebrate their history which is a nice touch without having to go inside.

And I noticed that there were restrooms on the outside of the ballpark too. Besides porta potties you see in some parking lots outside ballparks and stadiums, I don’t recall seeing a restroom that’s part of the actual ballpark being accessible without going inside so that’s a nice fan-friendly touch.

The gates are numbered after Twins legends which is a nice homage but can be confusing if you’re not familar with the ballpark and trying to look for a specific gate, thinking the gates would go up sequentially as you walk around the ballpark.

Once you enter the main concourse, you can see the field as you walk around. Since there are no suites behind home plate on the main concourse level, it’s also easy to get to your seats behind home plate on this level and unlike some of the ballparks like Petco where you have to go up and down stairs/escalators/ramps to go around the main level, here once you enter a gate you’re able to easily walk around the entire park.

As well, there are standing room only areas throughout the ballpark on every level, including many places with drink rails, which is a great thing for fans to be able to watch on any level whether they just want to see different areas or don’t want to rush back to their seats. The escalators in the ballpark run in both directions so you can easily go up and down between levels throughout the game, another touch that really makes this ballpark fan-friendly.

The one thing is as you walk around the main concourse level, the side that’s opposite the field (i.e. the left side if you were walking clockwise around the ballpark with the field on the right), is where all the stands are and as a result, it makes the concourse feel a little closed and not as open air as other ballparks where both sides tend to be more open.

Because the ballpark has the smallest footprint of all current ballparks (8.5 acres), Target Field does have a large amount of seats in the outfield versus using the outfield space to be more open like Nationals Park though you still have views of the Downtown Minneapolis skyline in right field.

Really in right field is the only place that has an open space:

In right field is also where you’ll find Truly On Deck, a bar that has the Twins World Series memorabilia and also has reserved outdoor patio seating but also indoor seating that anyone can sit at.

This is one of a number of social areas throughout the ballpark. Even though I’m a fan who likes to sit down in a seat and really watch a game, the reality if there are many more casual fans and having these social areas is a way to get the non-diehard fans to go to the ballpark and have a great time. It’s really what many ballparks are doing to get the large crowds at the game which in turn creates more energy and a livelier atmosphere.

Watching the game, the seats have a pretty good view from various parts of the ballpark including the upper deck.

Speaking of the upper deck, this is where the Home Plate Tap Room is located (around sections 214 and 215) in what appears to be suites on the upper level at one time but are now a social area that anyone can go into.

In the Home Plate Tap Room is where Sue the Organist performs and she’s very friendly to go up and talk to her before the game and watch her do her work during the game.

In terms of concessions, the ballpark has a mixture of local restaurants like Kramarczuk’s, Pizza Luce and Union Hmong Kitchen along with stands that are inspired by the local food scene (Mill City Grill and North Shore Creamery). Though I’m spoiled by having a lot of local food options the way Petco does it so it’s really hard to find anywhere that offers the same variety, Target Field concessions are of good quality from the different food I sampled.

What really stood out is how they have Value Stands offering hot dogs, preztels, soda for under $5 and 612 Saturdays where they sell $1 snacks, $2 food and $6 beer. It really makes it affordable for families and friends to go to the ballpark and again goes with how fan-friendly this ballpark is.

As well, within a few blocks of the ballpark are many breweries, bars and restaurants to give you different food options. Walking to the ballpark I saw many of these places pretty crowded before the game.

Watching the game, they upgraded the video screen and LED boards prior to the 2023 season and they really make good use of all these boards. All the pitching and batting information is shown (pitch type, break, exit velocity, distance a ball was hit on contact, etc) as well as a constant out-of-town scoreboard. Basically all the information stat geeks like myself are looking for all the time while watching the game.

The in-game entertainment had things like celebrity look-a-like, a mascot-like race, the hat shuffle and prize contests involving fans. It wasn’t consistently every half inning (other innings they just played music) so wasn’t always keeping the fans engaged but when they did, fans seemed to get into them.

Overall I liked Target Field and would definitely recommend checking it out. It has a nice look and feel to it, it’s fan-friendly, has good views from the seats and it’s set up so you can be into the game or be there for more of a social outing. Being in downtown also allows you to check out other notable things in Minneapolis (like the Stone Arch Bridge, Guthrie Theater and Mill City Museum) or catch other games at US Bank Stadium or Target Center if the seasons overlap.

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.