MLB: Five Teams Needing New Parks
A new set of stadium construction is underway in the MLB. What five teams actually need new parks?
Welcome to the 2020s.
No, we have a few years left until the actual date but with the Atlanta Braves leaving Turner Field for the suburbs and the Texas Rangers announcing a shiny, new palace in Arlington, the next decade of baseball architecture is underway in the MLB.
One can argue if the Braves, after 20 seasons, and the Rangers, after 23, need new stadiums, but Atlanta got their money and Texas hopes to win theirs this fall.
The Arizona Diamondbacks, only 18 years living in their retractable dome in downtown Phoenix, are looking to build a new shining palace in the desert.
With three stadiums either under construction or on the drawing board, what Major League Baseball teams truly need a new place to call home? Here are five that could use more than just a fresh coat of paint.
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5. Texas Rangers
Yes, it is silly that a team still with their original lease is in need of a new stadium, but when the Rangers moved into what is now Globe Life Stadium back in 1994, they made a huge mistake.
Spending 21 years at Arlington Stadium—a minor league facility upgraded for the Rangers in 1972—Dallas-Fort Worth finally had a palace worthy of Texas with one flaw. No roof. If you are playing baseball in Texas, you need to give fans and players respite from the heat and humidity of summer. The Houston Astros built two domes and thrived. The Rangers cannot play day games outside of April.
Although extravagant now considering where the Rangers play is in good shape, fixing this flaw will allow day baseball and flexibility. Chances are the new roof will be open often, at night.
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4. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Would you have guessed Angel Stadium of Anaheim is the second-oldest stadium in the American League?
Already the home of four facelifts, the Angels have played amongst the orange groves and Disneyland for 50 years. Built in an era when the suburbs were the place to put new parks, the Big A sits on the eastern side of the city wedged near a freeway. The scoreboard the stadium is best known for sits in a parking lot and has not been a part of the stadium since 1979. (Some of us remember the Big A in left field, but we are old.)
With so many renovations over the years, there is nothing structurally wrong with the place, it lacks the identity and charm most parks do. Colorado has trees in the outfield, Boston has the Green Monster and Citgo sign. The Angels have fake rocks in center field.
If owner Arte Moreno wants to leave a lasting legacy to Southern California, a place for the Angels not needing a remodel every ten years would be a start.
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3. Toronto Blue Jays
When SkyDome opened in 1989, it was considered a modern marvel of form and function. A retractable roof was miles better than the old windswept Exhibition Stadium. Spending 12 seasons in a place designed for Canadian Football, the Blue Jays sat through bad weather, sightlines and, until 1985, bad baseball.
Both the Blue Jays and the CFL Toronto Argonauts had a place worthy of the city. When the roof is open, the iconic CN Tower is visible from every seat. Wide concourses, a hotel and McDonald’s mark the exterior. It was the ballpark of ballparks. A shopping destination and civic center.
What happened? Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
The cookie-cutter stadium fell out of favor and baseball parks returned. With all the glimmering neon and concrete SkyDome offered, the Blue Jays home transferred from new to sterile within five years. When Milwaukee, Phoenix and Seattle opened new domes with grass, what is now Rogers Centre became obsolete.
The Argos move to BMO Field this year, an outdoor grass field shared with Major League Soccer’s Toronto FC. Although the Blue Jays installed an all-dirt infield for 2016, the place still is sterile and uninviting. Unless you enjoy talking about the new Duran Duran CD enjoying a drink at Orange Julius, then building a baseball-only facility for the Jays should be a priority in the next few years.
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2. Tampa Bay Rays
Much like Rogers Centre, Tropicana Field opened in 1990 as the stadium of tomorrow. After missing luring the Chicago White Sox and San Francisco Giants, the place was empty until 1998 for baseball.
Built away from any public transportation and in a part of St. Petersburg away from the highways, bad attendance and horrible sight lines made fans grumble for a new park ten years ago. Even with pennant-winning teams, the Rays are perennially at the bottom of American League attendance. With a lease not allowing the team to consider options away from St. Petersburg and fans staying away in droves, the future of keeping the franchise in Florida depends on a new stadium somewhere.
A roof is essential. Between the humidity and heat that Florida is known for, any new place cannot be like what the Rangers have now. Considered one of the worst playing surfaces in baseball, the Rays will never be more than a second-class franchise unable to sign free agents or keep their homegrown talent unless they have a new stadium.
With places such as Montreal hungry for baseball, here is hoping Tampa finds a solution keeping their true fans happy.
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1. Oakland Athletics
The place rains raw sewage in the clubhouses.
At 50, the Oakland Coliseum is closer to being condemned than refurbished. Thousands of seats are tarped off and, with the Miami Marlins now playing at Marlins Stadium—the old Orange Bowl—and not with the Miami Dolphins, the Athletics are the lone team sharing a facility with an NFL team.
What was a nice stadium until the Oakland Raiders renovated it upon their return in 1995, Oakland Coliseum has turned into a public relations disaster. The Athletics know this but attempts to move to nearby Fremont and San Jose died either from the dot-com bubble bursting in the early 2000s or the San Francisco Giants refusing territorial rights. Maybe at some point, the A’s lawsuit against the Giants for San Jose will settle.
Until then, Oakland is the best place for the Athletics to play, but any serious renovation or rebuild to the coliseum depends on the Raiders. Baseball fans do not care if the Raiders move to Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas or Timbuktu. Decide where they are going and let a new stadium go up on the current site.
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Although the future of the franchise in Northern California is not in doubt, like the Rays in Tampa, expecting players wanting to play on a scarred field with facilities lacking working facilities is. The sad part is the Athletics, unless they threaten to leave the area, are powerless to fix it.