 |
| This is what it looked like before Mt. Davis was built. I wanted to start the post with a nice picture. |
 |
| This is the back of Mt. Davis. Even Shea Stadium looked better than this. |
I started my trip by watching Game 1 of the 1988 World Series on the plane to San Francisco. Of course, that game was at Dodger Stadium, but the Dodgers ended up winning the series in Oakland. The fact that the Dodgers won the World Series there, natural grass, and the fact that it’s outdoors are the only things keeping the Oakland Coliseum from being last in my stadium rankings (we’ll get there).
I remember my brother telling John about how you get off the BART train and take a bridge that takes you across the sewage moat. John wanted that included in the blog post so here it is:
 |
| Look at the sewage glistening in the sun. |
 |
| You can't really tell from this picture, but there was random stuff floating in there. |
Side note, I strongly dislike almost everything about San Francisco, but one thing that I like is the name. I wish some better place in the American Southwest was named for St. Francis and that San Francisco instead had a name that started with B so that their mass transit system could be called the BORT (B__-Oakland Rapid Transit instead of Bay Area Rapid Transit).
I was sitting way up high behind home plate. The ticket I had included a $6 food voucher so that was nice. The food selection was probably slightly better than early 1990s Shea Stadium so I just went with a hot dog. I’ve had hot dogs at Wrigley Field, Dodger Stadium, Citi Field, and Oakland Coliseum this season. Oakland Coliseum’s was clearly the worst. Also I had to go down to the lower level to get it. On the upper level, there was only one concession stand open. They had hot dogs, but they only had yellow mustard up there (that’s bush league) and there was no craft beer. On the lower level I got a Drake’s Pilsner. One of the beers available was the Denogginizer IPA. Between the name of the brewery and that particular beer, it seems like they’re Seinfeld fans, but I checked their website and there don’t seem to be any other beers named with Seinfeld references. The pilsner was nothing special.
 |
| My view for the game |
 |
| They should have beers called Headso and Son of Dad. |
 |
| It's an empty concourse. During a Major League Baseball game. |
Anyway, the A’s were playing the Rays. If only they could play a series where the winner got a new stadium in Portland or something. They played a wild game the night before I went. It was 1-1 going into the ninth. The Rays scored three in the top of the ninth, but the A’s scored four and won a home run in the bottom of the ninth. This game was not so exciting. Tampa Bay went up 2-0 in the third. They A’s kept it close, but they never tied it and the Rays won 5-3. Attendance was 16,126. That was a small crowd, but still much bigger than the game I went to at Tropicana Field. The lights flickered a few times late in the game. Also there was an announcement at the end of the game that there were no BART trains running north (I had planned on using Uber/Lyft after the game anyway). This led to speculation in the stadium that there was an earthquake even though we hadn’t felt anything in the stadium. But I did some googling afterwards and it seems that there was just a 1.6 earthquake near San Jose that morning.
The Rays used a starter who pitched two innings and gave up no runs. I hate the idea of the opener so much. I have the solution to that. You have to designate pitchers as starters or relievers. There would have to be flexibility, but if you’re designated as a starter, you can’t pitch for at least three days after starting a game and your designation can’t be switched from starter to reliever for at least three days (you can make it four and I’m totally fine with that also). You have five pitchers designated as starters at all times. Starters can only pitch in relief in extra inning games or if their minimum days of rest have passed. Teams are not going to be using openers if they have to designate them as starting pitchers who can’t pitch for the next three days after using them as an opener for two innings.
By the way, there’s talk of the Rays splitting games between Tampa and Montreal. I really hate this idea. Instead of having a team play in one city that shouldn’t have a baseball team, you’re going to have them play in two cities that shouldn’t have a baseball team. In their last five seasons in Montreal before splitting games with San Juan (1998-2002), the Expos averaged 10,048 fans per game. In the last five seasons, the worst the Rays have averaged is 14,258. Baseball does not belong in Montreal. If you’re going to have baseball in Montreal, it should be the Blue Jays. I’ve said this before, but they should become Canada’s team. I would have them play 65-68 home games in Toronto and then split the rest between Montreal and one other Canadian city (rotating each year). I really don’t get this rush to go back to Montreal. They had baseball and it didn’t work. Obviously Tampa-St. Petersburg isn’t working for the Rays. I kind of doubt that a new stadium in the area would change that, but maybe it would work better in Tampa. The A’s should stay in Oakland or go to San Jose. The Rays should go to Charlotte, Indianapolis, San Antonio, Austin, Memphis, Nashville, Louisville, Oklahoma City, or Portland and then put two expansion teams in two of those cities as well. The Marlins are the other team that really should move, but they just built a new stadium this decade so that's not going to happen soon.
Anyway, let’s get to my updated stadium rankings (click on the Suntrust Park link for my previous rankings):
33. Tropicana Field
32. Oakland Coliseum
These two are legitimately worse than Shea Stadium was.
31. SkyDome
If it was renovated, it might be in the strong to quite strong range. Get some natural grass in there. But we can’t fix the problem of it being in Canada.
30. Chase Field
I moved this one down a few spots because they took out grass and replaced it with artificial turf. What up with that? If you read that post, I said that I liked it a lot better than Marlins Park, but I've heard bad things lately and the artificial turf is bad (especially considering it's not like it always had artificial turf, they made a decision to make a bad change).
29. US Cellular Field
28. Marlins Park
We have opposite problems here. US Cellular Field is too boring. Marlins Park is too weird (but I think they have toned down the weirdness). Fenway Park is weird, but that’s because they made it fit the land they had to build it. Marlins Park is just weird for the sake of being weird.
27. Minute Maid Park
Speaking of weirdness and boringness, Minute Maid Park went from interestingly weird to being boring when they got rid of the hill.
26. Turner Field
25. Progressive Field
24. Angels Stadium of Anaheim
Angels Stadium was built long before the other two, but they all feel kind of similar. Turner Field is no more. Progressive Field was kind of boring. And the Angels have to be thankful that they play in the same state as the A’s because if not, they’d clearly have the worst stadium in California.
23. Miller Park
22. Coors Field
Two stadiums named for bad beers, but we’re into the stadiums that I would consider nice. But both feature baseball where it shouldn’t be played, indoors (sometimes) at Miller Park and at altitude at Coors Field.
21. Shea Stadium
20. Comerica Park
I know I just said we were into the good stadiums, but Shea Stadium will always hold a special place in my heart. With these two we have a bad stadium and a bad city.
19. Globe Life Park
18. Suntrust Park
We have the stadium in its last year and our current newest stadium. The Braves made a clear upgrade with Suntrust Park. Hopefully I’ll get to the Rangers’ new stadium next year and we’ll see if that’s better. But I have two reasons for concern: a retractable roof and artificial turf. I get the roof, I just want to know how frequently they’re going to close it. But why artificial turf? Why? Globe Life Park wasn’t anything special, but I don’t think they needed to get rid of it.
17. Citi Field
16. New Yankee Stadium
I would have Yankee Stadium probably two spots lower, but the fact that it’s Yankee Stadium means something. No it’s not the House that Ruth Built, but it has the facade and the monuments (in a bad location). Citi Field is probably nicer, but as I’ve said before, there’s a reason why Notre Dame plays Shamrock Series games in Yankee Stadium and not Citi Field.
15. Citizens Bank Park
14. Oriole Park at Camden Yards
13. Nationals Park
12. Busch Stadium
We’re in the mid-Atlantic region plus St. Louis with this group. Most people like Oriole Park a lot more than I do, but I actually moved it up a spot after revisiting Citizens Bank Park last year. Citizens Bank Park is fine, but the other three have it beat in location. After revisiting Nationals Park last year, I noticed that the area around the stadium has definitely improved over the years. Busch Stadium has a great location (even if the inside was a little disappointing). Citizens Bank Park is still surrounded by parking lots.
11. Great American Ballpark
10. T-Mobile Park
9. Target Field
We’re into the stadiums where I really liked the inside. I moved Great American Ballpark down two spots because if I owned a team, I’d rather have my team play in the other two parks because those two are better for pitchers.
8. Oracle Park
7. Kauffman Stadium
6. Petco Park
Petco Park has by far the best location of these three. Kauffman Stadium is surrounded by parking lots and Oracle Park is in a city full of dirty smelly hippies, but it is in a spot where Max Muncy can hit a Madison Bumgarner pitch into the ocean. There have been talks of moving the fences in at Oracle Park and moving the bullpens. I think having the bullpens on the field in foul territory is silly, but we don’t need to do anything to make things easier for the hitters these days (I know, Oracle Park is one of the few places where it’s not easy to hit home runs, let’s keep it that way). Both Kauffman Stadium and Petco Park are excellent on the inside.
5. PNC Park
4. Wrigley Field
3. Old Yankee Stadium
I got to PNC Park again this year and I was reminded of how good it is. It’s the best of the new stadiums. I got to Wrigley Field this year for the first time since they finished the renovations and they did a great job. I moved it up three spots. I still wish they had just renovated Old Yankee Stadium. You look at what they did with Wrigley Field and Fenway Park and I wish they could have just done that with Yankee Stadium, but Big Stein had to have a shiny new stadium.
2. Dodger Stadium
1. Fenway Park
These two are the best. I will never get tired of going to either one.
Let’s look at some averages. I’m using my numbers, but I’m only including the current stadiums. So the American League is not getting any credit for Old Yankee Stadium.
National League: 14.3
American League: 19.8
The National League wins. That comes as no surprise. The NL stadiums are better.
NL West: 13.6
NL Central: 11
NL East: 18.2
AL West: 22.4
AL Central: 18
AL East: 19
The AL West is the worst. The AL East has two of the worst ballparks in baseball, but they also have Fenway Park. The real takeaway here is that the NL Central and NL West are clearly the best. The Central has two fantastic stadiums and no glaring weak links. The NL West has three excellent stadiums, Coors Field, and one bad one.
Eastern Time: 17.6 (14 stadiums)
Central Time: 16.25 (eight stadiums)
Mountain Time: 22 (Coors Field is the only one, Arizona thinks they’re on Mountain Time, but during baseball season they’re on Pacific Time.)
Pacific Time: 16 (seven stadiums)
It’s interesting how this one turned out. Every time zone with multiple stadiums has its weak links. Eastern Time is hurt by Tropicana Field and SkyDome, but Pacific Time is able to survive having Oakland Coliseum and Chase Field to get the win here.
