Best Food? Worst Parking? The Highs and Lows from Our Tour of MLB Ballparks (So Far)
The Big Queso will haunt me forever.
While the Big Trip is mostly about visiting national parks, it’s also about checking off another bucket-list item of mine: attending a game at every ballpark in Major League Baseball. At this time last year, I had been to five ballparks. Now, after nearly a year on the road, I’ve visited 14 ballparks, nearly half of the 30 in MLB.
Over all those hours spent watching baseball games, I’ve developed a few opinions on the venues themselves. So, halfway through our quest to see every ballpark, here’s where they stand—in my opinion—so far.
Best Ballparks
Petco Park (San Diego Padres): We haven’t visited this park on the Big Trip, so Kristine hasn’t experienced it yet. But I have seen a handful of games there over the years, and I firmly believe it’s the best place in the world to watch baseball. It’s got everything a fan could want: a modern venue in a great downtown location, delicious local food options, and perhaps the best craft beer selection in the country.
PNC Park (Pittsburgh Pirates): This could easily be the best ballpark in baseball, and many would it argue that it is. The backdrop of yellow bridges leading into the Pittsburgh skyline is incredible, and the ballpark keeps pace with Petco on every other amenity as well.
Oracle Park (San Francisco Giants): I’m a sucker for bricks and water, and Oracle has both. It’s the most beautiful stadium I’ve seen so far. Combine that with an awesome location on the San Francisco Bay and great food options, and you’ve got a top-three ballpark.
Worst Ballparks
Tropicana Field (Tampa Bay Rays): It has the only permanent dome left in MLB. Enough said.
Angel Stadium (Los Angeles Angels): The rock sculpture is cool and unique, but the stadium lags behind the league standard in almost every category.
LoanDepot Park (Miami Marlins): This park making my bottom three is mostly a testament to just how good the average MLB ballpark is.1 It’s an above-average sporting venue, but the other the parks are just better.
Best Food
Petco Park: Outstanding local eateries like Hodad’s and Pizza Port have locations inside the stadium. Plus they’ve got all that craft beer.
Worst Food
Angel Stadium: I’m holding owner Arte Moreno personally responsible for getting rid of the Italian Dog. It’s also his fault that the only protein topping available for helmet nachos is chicken. Have some pride.
Best Atmosphere
Oriole Park at Camden Yards (Baltimore Orioles): When the Orioles are playing well and hosting a popular team like the Yankees, the atmosphere at this already awesome ballpark takes the fan experience to another level.
Worst Atmosphere
LoanDepot Park: The Marlins have some of the lowest attendance numbers in MLB, and we happened to watch them play the Angels on a Wednesday afternoon—mostly alongside other Angels fans. Dozens of people saw a ballgame that day.
Best Value
Progressive Field (Cleveland Guardians): The $40 we paid for field-level seats weren’t the cheapest we’ve gotten (that crown goes to LoanDepot Park). The $12 pizzas we got also weren’t the cheapest (shoutout to LoanDepot Park’s 3-0-5 menu). But the quality of both were undeniable, and it felt like the most reasonably priced ballpark we’ve visited so far.
Worst Value
Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia Phillies): $45 for upper deck seats. $20 for a cheesesteak. $8 for bottled water. It was an expensive outing.
Best Parking
PNC Park: We parked in a garage a block away from the stadium for $20. And because the Pirates aren’t selling out games these days, it was easy to get in and out.
Worst Parking
Truist Park (Atlanta Braves): This crown probably should go to Dodger Stadium, the king of awful parking. But the Braves deserve a shoutout for charging $40 to park in a lot several blocks away that takes ages to enter and exit. It’s the only place I’ve visited that’s even comparable to Dodger Stadium’s parking nightmare.
Best Surprise
Great American Ball Park (Cincinnati Reds): Three words—bottomless Slush Puppies. Slush Puppies are superior to the ICEE in every way, and they were available in a dozen flavors on the upper deck in Cincinnati.
Worst Surprise
Truist Park: Eating the Big Queso comes with consequences. This concoction of grilled chicken, salsa, cheese, sourdough bread, and queso sauce tasted good going in but wreaked havoc on the way out.2
What’s up next?
Fourteen down, fifteen to go.3 These are the ballparks we’ll visit over the coming months:
It’s also among my bottom three because we have not attended a game at the Oakland Coliseum, the consensus second-worst stadium in MLB.
I’m won’t go into too much detail, but I had to stop at three different bathrooms on the way home and spent far longer in a porta-potty than I had ever planned to that day.
It would be sixteen, but we don’t plan to visit Oakland Coliseum during the Big Trip boycotting it in solidarity with Athletics fans as the owner plans to move the team to Las Vegas.