Ballpark Write-Up 1: Coors Field and T-Mobile Park
We're ranking and reviewing all 30 MLB stadiums in 50 days. Two of the first stops were in Colorado and Seattle; here's what we thought.
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In a partnership with Just Baseball, Will Benton is ranking and reviewing all 30 MLB stadiums in just 50 days. Two of his first stops were at Coors Field to visit the Colorado Rockies, followed by T-Mobile Park to catch the Seattle Mariners at home.
Along the way, Will catches up with players to do some career trivia, as well as tests the knowledge of local fans attending the games. He’s aiming to do so much more than simply attend a baseball game, he’s looking to get the full experiences of what each stadium has to offer.
Stop 1: Visiting Coors Field, Home of the Colorado Rockies
I’ve gotten lucky with the weather my first two stops. The average temperature at first pitch in Denver and Seattle was 73 degrees. There haven’t been any rainouts or delays so far. Just good baseball.
This trip started on May 2nd at Coors Field. I was thoroughly impressed by both the stadium and Rockies fans. Sure, they call Coors Field the biggest bar in Denver, so many people are there to have a good time.
But still. This team hasn’t come close to the playoffs since getting swept in the 2018 NLDS. That was eight years ago, and Matt Holliday was on the team in his final season.
Over 38,000 fans showed up on a Saturday night to watch their team get dominated by Chris Sale and the Braves in a 9-1 loss.
Personally, I had a great time. For one, I’m from Atlanta and am a huge Braves fan. I didn’t mind watching Chris Sale strike out 11 batters in seven innings. I also enjoyed watching Drake Baldwin, Austin Riley, and Matt Olson all go yard.
But I also had a great time because of the venue. Coors Field is simply a flat out awesome place to watch a game.
With Coors Field being the first stop on my trip, I was pretty nervous about getting enough videos of the stadium and interviews with fans. I ended up walking over 17,000 steps that day, taking countless laps around the park.
When I was up in the top deck before the game, I saw the purple row of seats, marking exactly one mile above sea level. Pretty cool. It was up here I noticed the rooftop bar in right field with hundreds of people up there.
With about 45 minutes before first pitch, it was time to head over there and ask fans their favorite thing about Coors Field. The answers were perhaps skewed by the setting, and if you’ve seen my video, you already know the overwhelming answer was the $3 beer before the game starts.
Over the course of the game, I would find out what else makes Coors Field special. For this trip, I tried to sit in as many different spots as possible. I started this game out in the left field bleachers. Every inning or so, I’d move somewhere new. I’m not sure if I’d ever buy a ticket here, but my favorite spot in the stadium was the center field bleachers above the batter’s eye.
These seats are about 500 feet from home plate. It’s a bit tougher to see what is going on, but the views here are incredible. When I looked forward towards the plate, I could see the downtown Denver skyline. When I turned around, I saw the sun setting over the mountains. Definitely a one-of-a-kind view in Major League Baseball.
Coors Field still feels like a new, modern stadium despite being over 30 years old. It checks off a lot of boxes for me. We’ve already mentioned the views, and the location is also top notch.
Coors Field is in the lower downtown district with many restaurants, hotels, and bars around. McGregor Square is across the street and is a great place to get something to eat and watch other games going on. Coors Field is also an eight-minute walk from Union Station, which is how I got back to my hotel after the game.
Overall, Coors Field is a tremendous place to watch a game, whether you’re bringing your family or just looking for a great night out with friends. The Rockies finally appear to have some direction after three straight 100-loss seasons, and this fan base deserves a winning product.
Stop 2: Visiting T-Mobile Park, Home of the Seattle Mariners
So far, T-Mobile Park out-performed my expectations more than any other stadium. I was not expecting to like this place as much as I did. Last October, I saw how electric the park can get on TV, and there was also good energy all night in a 5-4 comeback win on Monday, May 4 against the Braves.
As I’m doing for all of these games, I showed up extremely early. It was a cool walk to the stadium. I passed Pike Place Market and Lumen Field, home of the Seahawks, on my way to the game.
The T-Mobile Pen in left field is the only place open two hours before the game. With the rest of the stadium opening up 90 minutes prior to first pitch, it was a little crowded, but also impressive with the amount of fans in the park that early.
The Mariners have the coolest bullpen setup I’ve seen for fans. There can’t be anywhere else you can get that close to the relievers. T-Mobile Park does a great job of utilizing their standing room only tickets here.
The fans here were great. Shoutout to Lyle from the Marine Layer Podcast for telling me places with the best views. I started this game in my seat down the left field line, about halfway between third base and the left field wall.
The coolest view by far was in the upper deck on the first base side, looking toward left field. I had been to T-Mobile Park before, but had not seen it from this perspective. It was beautiful seeing the sunset, downtown Seattle, Lumen Field, and the Space Needle. Oh, and there’s a baseball game going on right below you.
Even as a Braves fan, this game was a fun one. The Braves went up 4-0 on four solo homers from Drake Baldwin, Ozzie Albies, Matt Olson, and Austin Riley. Olson’s homer was the 300th of his career. I knew he was at 299 before the game, and I was actually in right field for his milestone homer. He decided to go oppo instead, taking Logan Gilbert deep to left center.
T-Mobile Park came alive when JP Crawford hit a go-ahead two-run homer to put the Mariners up 5-4, a score that would hold the rest of the game.
One thing I love about T-Mobile is its roof acts like an umbrella. When it rains the roof slides over the field so there are no rainouts.
But, when it’s a perfect, clear day like it was when I was there, the stadium feels like a normal, outside stadium. This is not the case at other stadiums with retractable roofs like Globe Life Field. Even in the rare instance (15% of games) where the roof is open, a significant portion of the stadium is still covered by the roof. Not in Seattle, though.
T-Mobile Park is another downtown stadium, right by the Puget Sound. With it on the outskirts of downtown, there aren’t as many restaurants or hotels compared to other cities, but the location is still solid.
If we’re being picky, the only thing that could be better is if the skyline and water were incorporated more. There are only a handful of sections where you can truly see the view of the city, and you can’t see the water unless you go to the viewing deck which faces the opposite way of the field.
Still, T-Mobile Park is an above average stadium in my mind, and a great place to watch a game. Stay tuned for my second write up featuring Angel Stadium and Dodger Stadium.
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Will Benton is on a journey going to all 30 stadiums in 50 days. He played college football for 5 seasons at SMU and 1 season…