Power Ranking The MLB Stadiums I've Been To

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When I found out that I was going to be in Chicago this week, the first thing I did was check the schedule and see if either the Cubs or White Sox are home. I was legit disappointed when I found out that both teams were on the road. I even let out a audible "Seriously?". I haven't been to either stadium and I am dying to go. I'll be back in late June for The Dozen playoffs (hopefully) so I'll be able to check out both then.

Seeing a baseball stadium for the first time is so much fun. I love how every stadium has its own identity and personality. You have real opinions about each place. 

Here's my rankings of stadiums I've been to. A few of these places no longer exist. There are obviously a bunch I need to see. With the season just starting and going to both Chicago stadiums as well as Coors Field this season, I figured this was a good time to get my personal Stadium power rankings organized.

14. Pro Player Stadium (Florida Marlins)

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This is the absolute worst place I've watched a major league baseball game. I've been to some lousy stadiums (as you'll see) but at least those monstrosities had some personality. There was nothing about this place that made it feel like a baseball park except for the guys on the field. No signage or history…and when I saw this place, they had just won their second World Series in less than a decade. There were things to actually celebrate! Forcing a baseball team to play in such an obvious football stadium was a disaster. To make it even worse, you have barely any shade in the middle of the summer in Miami.

I went to game here, saw Edwin Jackson as a young Dodgers prospect and walked away with a terrible sunburn.

13. Tropicana Field (Tampa Bay Rays)

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Other then the shitty roof, the poor lighting, the stadium being a pain in the ass to get to, basic ballpark food and terrible ballpark atmosphere; Tropicana Field is great!

12. Olympic Stadium (Montreal Expos)

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I kinda miss this place. Before I turned 21, I was living in New Hampshire. From when I was 18-20, we'd go once a month and go to Montreal where you can drink at 18. We'd time it when the Expos were home and catch some baseball and go hit the bars at night. It was awesome. This was the late 90's and I remember we got a ticket once for about $3 in American dollars.

This place was ugly as sin but it still had a charm. The little plastic seats were funny and not that uncomfortable. The hot dogs had a unique (and kind of great) little kick to them. They had vinegar right next to the ketchup for your french fries.

My best memory here was piling into car at the last minute and racing to Olympic Stadium to see Tony Gwynn get his 3000th hit. This place is certainly a dump but like Samuel L. Jackson said in Pulp Fiction: "some pigs have personality".

11. Nationals Park (Washington Nationals)

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Much like the weird Walgreens "W", this stadium is painfully bland. It feels like less of a destination and more of an obligation. It's not bad and it's a perfectly fine place to watch a game. It also feels like an office park. 

10. Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox)

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Fenway Park is an awesome place to go…once. The wall is majestic. The green of the grass somehow pops more here than anywhere else…especially for a night game. The history is everywhere.

But while it's fun as a novelty to visit the early parts of the 20th Century, it's not fun to live there. The seats have no leg room and half of them face the Green Monster instead of home plate. There might not be a seat worse in baseball than the right field grandstands. The concourse feels like a gross basement. It should have been torn down a long time ago.

But it remains because it's more of a tourist attraction than a ballpark at this point. John Henry went the cheap route and made improvements rather than build something new. The team on the field was great so people still came. But Fenway is less and less romantic if the team plays worse and worse.

9. Progressive Field (Cleveland Guardians)

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Downtown Cleveland is pretty awesome. It's wildly underrated. I've been to Cleveland a few times and the people are among the nicest I've ever met. It's not a forced kindness either. It's a genuine decency. The stadium is in a great spot too.

The stadium itself? Non-descript and basic. The definition of average which no newer stadium should be. 

8. New Yankee Stadium (New York Yankees)

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Everything here feels cold and forced. It feels like a tomb and so much of the history didn't happen here so it feels off. Don't get me wrong. The Yankees obviously earned that history and I love how each World Series Champion gets their own large picture on the concourse. Monument Park and the Yankee Museum all works really well too.

It's just when you are sitting there watching a game, it feels like someplace that wants to be special, someplace that probably should be special…but it's just an ordinary photocopy.

7. Old Yankee Stadium (New York Yankees)

I bet before the 1975 renovation, this was an amazing place to go to. By the time I first started going here in the 80's and 90's, it felt like a weird combination of the 1920's and 1970's. Despite all of that, there was a cool and almost spooky feeling every time you walked in there. 

This goes back to the Fenway Park debate. Should we keep these old parks around? I almost always lean go with a new park (with a retractable roof). But maybe for Yankee Stadium, you make the exception.

6. Shea Stadium (New York Mets)

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I liked this place far more than I should have. I loved the view from way up top. You could see everything. I even miss the RC Cola you could get at games in the 80's (Coke didn't come in until 1992!).

They did the right thing building a new stadium. I just wish they had spent more energy bringing over the best parts of Shea Stadium into Citi Field instead of ignoring it completely.

5. loanDepot Park (Miami Marlins)

I must say the difference between 5 and 6 is gigantic. Frank and I did a full video review of loanDepot Park last year. I like this park quite a bit. I love how modern it feels and how unique it is. If you are lucky enough to check it out when the roof is closed, you'll see a truly great park.

4. Citi Field (New York Mets)

It's tough to rank your regular ballpark. Familiarity breeds contempt. Citi Field has the best food of any ballpark I've been to. But I don't appreciate that enough and instead bitch about certain sightlines. I'm pissed they moved the museum to a broom closet. It gets way too windy there. 

I do love coming here though. It's where I've had some of my favorite memories since it opened in 2009. I've seen two no-hitters here, three World Series games and an All-Star Game here. I do love Citi Field even if it does drive me crazy sometimes.

3. Citizens Bank Ballpark

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No park that I've been to does history better than The Bank. I love Ashburn's Alley. The way it honors past All-Stars is fantastic. I wrote a blog last year about much I love this park.

2. PNC Park

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I'm so glad that Pirates fans have this. It's a perfect ballpark that at least makes having a under supported team by lousy owners a little easier to swallow.

No park I've been too (other then sitting almost on the left field foul line at Fenway) makes you feel closer to the action. I mean this in the best way possible but it's so intimate, it almost doesn't feel like a major league stadium. It's the nearest thing for any newer stadium to feeling like you're seeing a game in the 1930's but with all the best parts of a modern ballpark.

There also might be no better backdrop in the MLB.

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1. Camden Yards (Baltimore Orioles)

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It's nearly perfect. The first one of these retro ballparks managed to be the best. The warehouse sitting out there is ideal. Eutaw Street with the shops and little baseballs to mark each home run hit out there is fan nirvana. Even the little touches like the artwork of old logos, marketing campaigns, song lyrics and history at every turn are wonderful. There is so much care in every nook and cranny of the park.

My only complaint is the food stinks. I think Boog's BBQ is OK but wildly overrated. The rest of the stuff there isn't good. This is a very fixable issue. Maybe the new ownership will fix this. Also, with so many good restaurants less than a mile away, just grab yourself a great meal before the game.

I'll update this list in July after I've seen Wrigley, New Comiskey and Coors Field. Hopefully one of those cracks the Top 5.