Tuesday, November 15, 2022

David Stearns Steps Down as Brewers President of Baseball Ops

The last few years I've been ending the season with a post about a disappointing Brewers exit from the playoffs, but this year there is an entirely different type of disappointing Brewers exit.  It was announced during the World Series that David Stearns would be stepping down as the Brewers' President of Baseball Operations effective immediately, with current GM Matt Arnold taking over the president duties.  Stearns will apparently remain with the team in an advisory role while he takes some much deserved time off from the game with his family and friends.

Two obvious questions immediately popped up from every Brewers fan and everybody around baseball following this announcement: 1) does this change anything for the team, and 2) is this "advisory role" just a nice way of Stearns saying he is pursuing another job?  And as of now I think the answer to both of those is a definitive "NO."  Matt Arnold has been Stearns' right hand man since Day 1 of his tenure in Milwaukee, ascending from Assistant GM to GM in 2020 and now to his current role.  While Arnold and Stearns row the ship a little differently, they both are still rowing in the same direction.  They share a lot of the same philosophies on player development and player evaluations, and with Arnold's scouting background I would expect to see a bit more influence from the scouting department in future decisions.  David Stearns undoubtedly chose to step down now not only because of his current contract expiring soon, but because he felt the Brewers were in good hand for him to make the move at this time.  And speaking of contract, the elephant in the room in baseball circles is not if Stearns is going to the Mets, but when.  He's young, he's from New York, and the Mets have new wealthy ownership and are ready to win.  David Cohen practically begged Sandy Alderson to come back to the team as president when he purchased the team, but he is now 74 years old so that has always been viewed as more of a stop-gap measure.  Stearns recently turning down an inquiry from the Astros to be their new GM to me only fuels more that he will politely remain in Milwaukee to run out the remaining year of his contract, and then transition to Queens for the 2024 season or soon thereafter.

A big change at the top only adds more excitement to what should be a very interesting and tumultuous offseason for the Brewers.  They have a lot of contract decisions to make and a lot of arbitration-eligible players nearing the end of their tenure, a stock of promising players waiting in the wings at AAA, and a lot of areas to find long-term solutions to after a regression in 2022.

Friday, October 7, 2022

2022 MLB Postseason

I'd be remiss if I did not end this season with the mention of Aaron Judge hitting his 62nd homerun in the 2nd to last regular season game, and thus breaking the longstanding American League record set by Roger Maris in 1961 (oddly 61 years later).  This has been the big story for much of the 2nd half of the season and has re-stirred the debate of who the "true" homerun king is.  Many (including Roger Maris Jr.) will now say that it is Aaron Judge since he did it "cleanly," but that is a slippery slope and the numbers don't lie - 62 is less than 73.  Regardless if you believe in math or create your own set of records, it's an accomplishment worth celebrating in a historic season, during a time when pitchers are becoming more and more dominant.  It was exciting to follow a homerun chase again and brought back a lot of memories of the 1998 season for me.

The Yankees are one of the postseason field of 12 this year, and Judge's homerun chase has largely overshadowed how the team limped into the playoffs and almost blew a 15-game division lead.  Outside of the AL Central, and the Mariners ending the longest playoff drought in all of professional sports, the rest of this year's postseason field was mostly chalk and I picked 8 of the 12 teams correctly.  Sadly this did not include the Brewers, who missed the postseason for the first time since 2017, and actually played their first regular season games in which they were eliminated from playoff contention since Craig Counsell's first full season 6 years ago.

PLAYOFFS START 10/7/22
NL Wild Card Round - #3 Cardinals host #6 Phillies, #4 Mets host #5 Padres
NLDS - #1 Dodgers v. 4/5 Winner, #2 Braves v. 3/6 Winner

AL Wild Card Round - #3 Guardians host #6 Rays, #4 Blue Jays host #5 Mariners
ALDS - #1 Astros v. 4/5 Winner, #2 Yankees v. 3/6 Winner

World Series Prediction: Astros defeat Braves in 7
Rooting for:  Mets v. Blue Jays

Preseason Predictions
#1 Dodgers
#2 Braves
#3 Brewers
#4 Phillies
#5 Mets
#6 Cardinals

#1 Blue Jays
#2 White Sox
#3 Astros
#4 Rays
#5 Tigers
#6 Angels

Dodgers defeat Blue Jays in 5

FINAL STANDINGS AND SERIES:
Brewers 86-, 2nd NL Central; eliminated
Twins 78-84, 3rd AL Central; eliminated

FINAL 2022 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 5
Peter - 18

Monday, September 26, 2022

End-of-Season Grabbag - Major Changes Coming in 2023

Three pretty major announcements have been made in the last month or so that will greatly impact the baseball landscape at all levels next season - Minor League Players agreeing to MLBPA union representation, a new balanced schedule, and a bevy of significant rule changes at the major league level.  I'll dive into each of these briefly in a grabbag-style fashion.

1.  MiLB Players Agree to MLBPA Union Representation.  It has been well documented that minor league ballplayers make significantly below poverty-level wage - often as low as $500 a week - and unlike indy ball, does not cover travel and living expenses.  So it really comes as no surprise that a body of people in the thousands would agree to representation in order to make a living wage.  What did come as a surprise is that Major League Baseball voluntarily agreed to recognize this unionization.  Rob Manfred has publicly maintained since he took office that the MLB antitrust exemption has "improved the lives of minor league players" and is not detrimental to the sport.  The acceptance of the MiLB unionization might be a "canary in the coal mine" to try to improve soured relations with the players union, or perhaps in response to increased pressure from Congress to do something about their living conditions.  Or maybe this is just all to look good in the media and is really just a rouse.  Whatever the motivation, it will be interesting to see where this goes as MLB now infamously owns and controls all of Minor League Baseball, which means they can pretty much do whatever the hell they want anyways.

2.  2023 MLB Schedule.  For the first time in the modern era, all teams will play each other at least once in the 2023 slate.  Divisional and League play is still weighted, but it is now reduced to 13 divisional games per opponent instead of 19, and 64 against the rest of the league (roughly a 3-game home and away set per opponent).  The balance of the schedule will be either a home or away series with every team in the opposing league, with the "rivalry" home-and-home remaining in tact.  I of course jumped out of my chair with overaction when I first heard this and shook my fist angrily at the clouds for awhile, but I've come around to liking this new schedule.  It gives every fan exposure to every player in the league which in turn helps grow the game with young fans, and it really does balance the schedule for everybody.  The NL Central and AL Central teams will have to go out and earn the respect of pundits everywhere and not be able to fall back on weak divisional schedules anymore.  I vividly remember times when I blocked out weekends to see Derek Jeter and the Yankees or Mike Trout and the Angels play in Milwaukee because those teams only came here every 6+ years, and you won't have to do that anymore.  One overlooked aspect to the schedule next year as well is that every single team plays on July 4th, which is mind-boggling that it's not always the case - it's supposed to be AMERICA'S pastime!

3.  MLB Rule Changes.  On to Rob Manfred's specialty - tinkering with the game itself.  Among the rules that were tested in MiLB and Partner Leagues and will be enforced in MLB as of the 2023 season:

  • Pitch Timer Regulations
    • Pitchers have 15 seconds with bases empty and 20 seconds with runners on to throw a pitch.  
    • Hitters must be ready to go with 8 seconds left on the clock.
    • Pitcher may only disengage the rubber twice per plate appearance (not including mound visits).  A third disengagement must result in a runner being tagged out, or else is called a balk.
    • Hitters only get one timeout per plate appearance.
    • Umpires may provide additional time at their own discretion.
  • Limitations on Defensive Shifts
    • Two infielders must be on either side of second base with both feet on the infield dirt at the time of the pitch.
    • Infielders cannot switch sides
    • No limitation on outfielder shifting or outfielders playing the infield (i.e. 5-man infield in a crucial game situation).
  • First, second, and third bases increase from 15" square to 18" square.
All for the pitch timer regulations.  When implemented in the minor leagues these rules reduced the average game time by almost a half-hour.  It's not necessarily about reducing the sheer time of the game, but reducing times when there is no action, and this should help with that - if it is enforced, and that will be the key.  Anybody who watches baseball regularly already can see how umpires and players already do not take the pitcher check for foreign substances seriously anymore, and I fear these pitch clock regulations will become lax over time in the same way.  Also all for the larger bases.  More steals and more runner safety at first base, sign me up.  I don't really agree with the limitations on shifts.  Do I want to see Christian Yelich hit .315 every year instead of repeatedly beating 100-mph grounders into the shift?  Of course I do.  The Brewers have 3 of the top-10 offenders in hits taken away by shift this season.  League-wide batting average is also at its lowest point since the mound was lowered.  But I'm also not one to take away an avenue for strategy.  The saying is that the "shift giveth, and the shift taketh away," and even though it's easy for me to say "learn to hit it the other way"...just about everything else in this game has learned to adapt over time.  It seems shortsighted to change the rules just because hitting has not caught up to pitching yet in a league that is very cyclical and analytics-driven.  I'm sure like all rule changes I will get use to it, and I'm sure like all rule changes there will be creative ways around them, and probably over time it will not even be that noticeable.  But I still grumble over any rule change that involves changing the strategy of the game.  It's one more tool that has been removed from the manager's toolbox when they already have less power than ever.

STANDINGS AND FINAL REGULAR SEASON SERIES AS OF 9/26/22:
Brewers 82-71, -6.5, -1.5 WC; 2 v. Cardinals, 4 v. Marlins, 3 v. Diamondbacks
Twins 74-79, -12.0, -9.5 WC; 3 v. White Sox, 3 @ Tigers, 3 @ White Sox

2022 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 5
Peter - 18

Tuesday, September 13, 2022

Tour 2022: Globe Life Field

All photos of Dallas, Arlington, Globe Life Field, and AT&T Stadium available on Flickr.

Someday, there will be a year when we're too old to drink all day and night on these trips, but this was not that year.  We got a slow start to our Friday morning shaking off the effects of our Thursday in Frisco, and we eventually headed to downtown Dallas around 11 AM.  Dallas was the site of our one non-sports/non-drinking activity of our weekend - visiting the harrowing sites of Dealey Plaza and the JFK Memorial.  For those who are not aware, Dallas is the site of President John F. Kennedy's assassination on November 22, 1963.  If you've ever heard someone refer to a "grassy knoll" in regards to his murder, that's Dealey Plaza.  This is the actual location of the assassination, and while it was originally built to commemorate a Dallas civic leader in the 1940s, it gained notoriety for the shooting and has subsequently become a National Historic Landmark, as has the Texas School Book Depository building across the street from which the shots allegedly rained down from a 6th floor window.  This building now houses the Sixth Floor Museum.  It was all a very heavy and somber experience and it was amazing to see how it affected visitors there even 59 years later.  We also visited the JFK Memorial designed by Philip Johnson a couple of blocks east and had some lunch downtown at a great Mexican place before returning our rental car at DFW.  It was super weird returning to the airport before our trip was even over, but we picked up a Lyft and were ready for leg #2 in Arlington.

After checking into our hotel and struggling to exercise in the hotel pool, we made the 1-mile walk to Texas Live! in Arlington.  About 30 years ago, really all that was in this part of town was a Six Flags Theme Park and a new Rangers stadium rising out of the ground.  Today it is home to another new Rangers stadium right across the street, the new Cowboys stadium built about 10 years ago (more on that later), and an active entertainment area tying it all together, filled with plenty of bars, restaurants, gathering spaces, and a couple of new hotels.  It was pretty surreal walking past the old Rangers stadium (now called Choctaw Stadium) that is not even 30 years old and still looks brand new, but I'm glad they're at least putting it to use for soccer and football.  We had a couple of drinks at a sports bar and spent a good hour circumnavigating the outside of Globe Life Field.  The main entry off of the north plaza is very stunning, with rhythmic bays of glass and a nice articulation of the roof and structure, with enough masonry to let you know it's a ballpark but certainly over-the-top like its predecessor.  There is a giant Rangers 'T' inlaid with brick in the plaza, in front of which stands a statue of one of the greatest Rangers and Texan athletes of all time, Nolan Ryan.  Around to the west side is an odd open field that I would hope has plans for future development.  All that's back there right now is basically a stormwater detention creek and the enormous infrastructure that holds up the roof.  One of the main reasons the Rangers wanted a new stadium so quickly after their last one is for refuge from the sweltering Texas heat, and they now have it in the form of a gigantic retractable roof that slides in one single panel over two large tracks on either end, and then overhangs off the side of the stadium, sort of like how Marlins Park and T-Mobile Park work.  We completed our walk around the south and east sides and returned back to the main gate.  Every side of this stadium is thought out and there doesn't look to be a "back side" to the stadium no matter where you are, but it is a bit odd since there are several entrances that essentially seem to serve nobody as there is nothing on those sides.  Again, this might just be a product of development not having caught up to the ballpark yet, but for now I don't understand any reason why anyone other than employees would use any entrance other than the north plaza.  On the east side of the stadium you will find the team offices building as well as placards of the various Texas Rangers Hall of Fame members, including Adrian Beltre, Kenny Rogers, Josh Hamilton, and of course Nolan Ryan.  There is also a statue commemorating the Rangers clinching the 2010 AL pennant and their first ever trip to the World Series in their 39th year of existence.  Overall I enjoyed the exterior design of the stadium.  It was straddling the line between a newer modern style while still paying homage to the retro style, and I appreciated that and thought it was appropriate for a Texas ballpark.

Stepping inside from the main gate puts you in left field at the top of the 100 section, and for anyone who has been to US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, you can't help but immediately feel the similarity.  The ball field is completely open there in front of you, with a multi-story glass wall right behind you pouring in light (hopefully the glass here is a bit more bird-friendly than in Minnesota).  And of course another similarity that slaps you right in the face is the MASSIVE roof.  Globe Life Field is over 6 stadium levels and 278 feet tall to the underside of the roof and gives it a scale I've only seen at one other park in the country - not surprisingly, Houston.  Stadiums with roofs inherently need more height which is understandable, and the Rangers really did as best they could by making it still feel open with all of the glass and viewing platforms, but you just can't get past how dark and unwelcoming a roof makes a park feel.  I did like how they split up a lot of the levels into smaller decks to combat some of the viewing angle problems that stadiums like American Family Field have.  The one exception to this is the ungodly tall section we sat in right field for the Friday night game, which I counted was 70 steps from the concourse down to our 4th row seat with no breaks in the steps.  I suspect this section was in homage to a similar section they had at their last stadium, but I only got out of my seat once the entire game because I thought I was going to have a heartattack by the time I got back to the top.  Before heading to our seats, we walked pretty much every level and square inch of the ballpark, with the exception of the lowest level that we would be at on Saturday.  There were a lot of concession options and I liked that the were spread out in a variety of stands and not just lined up on a wall, but there did seem to be a lot of repeats of the same stands.  There are great views to the field and lots of areas of refuge throughout all of the concourses, and also a lot of bars.  The bars do face inward with their backs to the field which is the same faux pas that the Brewers did which I do not understand for the life of me.  They are missed opportunities for people to be able to sit at a bar while watching the game and ultimately spend more money, and there was plenty of width in the concourse to make this change.  One of the things I kept coming back to on our walk around the stadium was the sheer number of levels and how they all interacted with each other, and that was probably my favorite thing about the interior.  The concourses were all very dynamic and you could almost always see both the field and a portion of another level, no two levels were the same, and most of the levels made a complete loop around the stadium.  As you ascend higher in the stadium, you get more of a full sense of the height of the stadium, as well as a birds-eye view down to all of the various suite levels.  I understand suites are a necessary evil in ballparks to make money, but the Rangers did them very tastefully and very open to the stadium, and even feature some cool field level suites that are sunken below the field for a unique experience you'll find at no other ballpark.  The dugouts are even pushed further down the lines than normal to allow a greater number of people to be closer to the field.  On the 5th level you get to walk through the brick archways that help support the roof and form the north entrance.  There are some very unique seats here that resemble the Crawford Boxes in Houston, as well as access to a platform that strictly serves as a place to view the stadium from its highest point - very cool but also terrifying.  There are also some balconies out here that jut over the north plaza that can be accessed by all fans, sort of the like the high balconies at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.  Lastly, the uppermost 6th floor has the press box as well as Karbach Brewing, which has a two-story space high in the left field corner.  We had a beer up here, watched some BP, and got our picture taken before beginning our descent back to our seats for gametime.  On our way down, we got to see the roof open.  We were confused why the Rangers chose to open the roof on a 90° degree day, but it was actually quite comfortable with the breeze and probably not considered that hot for Arlington.  It made me wish the Brewers opened the roof more than they do.

Friday night's game was a 7:05 first pitch and the start of a 3-game series with the Blue Jays, featuring Ross Stripling vs. Dane Dunning starting on the mound.  The Jays got on the board right away with an RBI groundout by Bo Bichette in the 1st, followed by a 2-run bomb by Bichette in the 3rd.  The Rangers began clawing their way back with a homerun in the bottom half of the 3rd by Josh Jung in his first Major League at-bat.  Jung is the Rangers top overall prospect and was their 1st round pick back in 2019 and the stadium was electric every time he came up to the plate.  Texas even tied it up with a Corey Seager double in the 8th, and Erik and I both looked at each other not wanting to admit we were too tired and hungover to be able to survive extra racks at this game.  But mercifully, Toronto scored in the top half of the 9th and hung on for the 4-3 victory.

Saturday was another slow morning leaving the hotel, but the only thing really on our agenda for today before the game was an 11 AM tour of AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys.  Erik and I are by no means NFL fans, but as stadium aficionados and architecture enthusiasts, it is a marvel we just had to see.  We had an awesome tour guide that showed us the inner workings of the stadium, including the history of the design and financing, various suites including the field-level suites that the Rangers clearly ripped off, the back of house area including the locker rooms and press room, and some various standing room and club areas.  Unfortunately we did not get to go on the field and run around as we had hoped because they had a crew down there cleaning up from a Bad Bunny concert the night before, but it was a cool tour nonetheless.  I won't get into much more detail as I don't want to talk about football in this blog, but I do have a separate album of photos linked at the top of this post.  I will say that one of the most interesting tidbits we learned was that the Cowboys paid off this stadium so quickly, that it allowed the City of Arlington to roll over the tax financing it already had in place to help fund Globe Life Field.  So I think it's safe to say that had AT&T Stadium not been so lucrative, the Rangers would still be playing out of Choctaw Stadium and Erik and I wouldn't have even been there.  Following the tour, we took down a couple of pitchers at an E & P staple - the local Hooters.  We watched Alabama eke past Texas and then headed back to the ballpark for game #2.

For Saturday nights game, we had tickets in the Lexus Club and sat in the 2nd row behind the visiting dugout on the 3rd base side.  The Lexus Club continues a trend of newer parks, much like the Champions Club in Minnesota or the first level club in Atlanta that we sat in 5 years ago, that provides a semi-private experience for a larger swath of fans, but is housed under the grandstand so as not to take up prime real estate.  These tickets cost $250 and when you set foot into the club you immediately see why.  The entire room was full of a giant buffet line that included things like prime rib sliced to order, shrimp, charcuterie, and an entire section that just served cake and ice cream.  All of this food is included in your ticket price (as well as drinks) and is open until the end of the 8th inning.  I guarantee Erik and I spent every cent of that ticket price and then some.  I didn't think it was as nice as the Champions Club as it was more of just a Las Vegas type buffet hall, and you also can't really see to the field as it is blocked by the field level suites, but it was worth the splurge for one night.  After a few plates we took the quick jaunt up to our seats and found out we had a couple more nice perks in this section.  We got free in-seat service through the Ballpark App - also included in the ticket - as well as prime view of the Rangers Cheerleaders that performed on the dugout in front of us for much of the game (see photos).  The game itself was another loss by the home team, this time in an 11-7 slugfest that lasted over 3 1/2 hours.  Kohei Arihara got absolutely shelled from the very first batter and gave up all 11 runs for the Rangers.  He was finally pulled in the 4th inning and has since been designated for assignment.  It was a 4-3 score after the 1st and we were excited that we'd probably get an ample amount of time to spend in the Lexus Club.  However after both starters left, the game pace quickened considerably and a total of 8 relievers for both teams gave up only 2 combined runs.  Kevin Gausman got the win for Toronto giving up 5 over 5.1.  Raimel Tapia and Adolis Garcia hit absolute missile homers, and Bo Bichette pitched in 3 doubles and an RBI to round out a nice little series for him.  You could really get a feel for just how tall the stadium was from down this close to the field, and you garner a little bit more understanding for the odd shape of the field.  Every single distance marker on the wall corresponds to something significant in Rangers history, whether it be the 407' center field marker for Pudge Rodriguez, or 372' to the alley signifying the year the club started.

Following the game, we tied one on pretty hard back at Texas Live! and listened to a great Latin band that played in the courtyard.  We parted our separated ways with afternoon flights on Sunday from the horrible Dallas-Fort Worth airport, which is probably one of the worst airports I've ever been in.  Despite having to be in Texas for 4 days, we had a wonderful time as always and were so grateful that we finally got to take this trip.  Now that we're back to all 30 ballparks attended, I would put Globe Life Field in about the middle of the pack of my MLB rankings.  Definitely not one of my favorites but also a big improvement over their last ballpark, and it's one of the better done domed stadiums with a lot of unique features.

That's probably it for me on the ballgame front for this year, unless by some miracle the Brewers make it to the second round of the playoffs.  We're already kicking an idea around for next summer, so stay tuned!

park rankings and statistics: 
aesthetics - 8
views from park - 1 (can really only see out from a couple balconies)
view to field - 9 (all seats are close and great views even from up high)
surrounding area - 9
food variety - 7
nachos - 6
beer - 5 (hard to answer this category as we only drank one night and it was "free")
vendor price - 6
ticket price - 3
atmosphere - 8
walk to park - 7
parking price/proximity - 6 (mile walk from hotel for free, there is also a shuttle)
concourses - 9
team shop - 7 (points deducted for no 50th Anniversary merch)
kids area - 2 (on uppermost floor and pretty sad)

best food - Golden Chick
most unique stadium feature - field level suites / Lexus Club
best jumbotron feature - retro Texas Rangers animations
best between-inning feature - Dot Race making its way from old stadium, with addition of dots cheating to win

field dimensions - 329/407/326
starters - Ross Stripling (TOR) v. Dane Dunning (TEX); Kevin Gausman v. Kohei Arihara
opponent - Toronto Blue Jays
time of game - 2:49; 3:37
attendance - 21329; 28340
score - 4-3 L; 11-7 L
Brewers score that day - 8-2 L; 5-1 W

Monday, September 12, 2022

Tour 2022: Riders Field

(everyone enjoy the first and only shirtless photo I'll ever post from a ballpark)

All photos of Grapevine, Frisco, and Riders Field available on Flickr.

Our 15th Anniversary Tour commenced this past weekend in the steamy Dallas-Fort Worth metro area after much anticipation and over 2 years of pandemic-related delays.  There's really no great time weather-wise to visit Texas during the baseball season, as you're contending with either triple-digit heat, torrential rain, or even the start of hurricane season as it was during our visit.  But we lucked out with the weather with no rain, a nice steady breeze, and never touching above 90° for all 4 days we were there.  We both got early starts to the festivities and both landed at DFW early Thursday morning.  I killed some time caffeinating myself to combat my 4:30 AM wake-up call in a coffee shop at a beautiful remodeled train station in nearby Grapevine while waiting for Erik to arrive, and by about 11:30 we were off to Frisco.

We had a rental car for the first day of our trip to make the drive out to Frisco, which is about 20 miles north of the airport.  After a lunch and a couple flights at a local brewery called Union Bear, we checked into our hotel and walked to the ballpark which was conveniently just across the street.  Thankfully, gone are the days of us finding cheap motels on the outskirts of town to save money.  We were in Frisco for this 24-hour excursion to see the RoughRiders, the AA-affiliate of the Rangers.  Texas has no shortage of ball options when we were looking at how to assemble this trip, and we ultimately decided on Frisco due in large part to it being one of the most unique ballparks in all of America.  It was famously designed a little over 20 years ago by David M. Schwarz (who is the Chairman of the Yale architecture school) and the concept behind it was to create a "park within a park."  It features a very welcoming and well thought-out set of interconnected pavilions that sit between the street edge/gates and the various concessions and suite structures of the ballpark.  These pavilions both serve as great gathering spaces that make use of what is typically dead space, as well as refuge from the Texas heat as they are almost entirely in shade during a typical game.  At the time this stadium was constructed, this was the first building in what is today a 70-acre development, so it had to be able to stand on its own before the rest of the development could catch up, and the "park in a park" concept only reinforces that by having a series of out-buildings that hold the street edge as well as visually connecting the inner pavilions to what would become future plazas outside the ballpark.  It is also the type of park where the concourse is on street level and the field is sunken below, which was done for budgetary and schedule reasons primarily but also greatly strengthens that visual connection to the street.  The entire building material choice is also quite unique, done entirely in a fiber cement residential-type siding, giving it more of a quaint, intimate coastal vibe or even a Churchill Downs aesthetic rather than an albatross ballpark.  This all again gives it an appropriate sense of scale that holds the street edge, and helps make it seem like this ballpark has been in town forever and successfully creates an urban feel in a suburban area.  All in all I was very impressed with how what seem like simple (and quite frankly cost-saving) measures really give this park a style all of its own, while still not shying away from the massive scale and grandeur you only find in Texas.

And speaking of things you will only find in Texas, if the ballpark wasn't already unique enough, a lazy river was constructed in right field during the 2016 season.  When the park opened in 2002 this area was originally just a small swimming pool that was open only for private parties, but now it is a 400-foot long, 3-foot deep river that is open to all adult fans for most home games, and is the only such river of its kind across all of professional sports.  Erik and I of course had to get "seats" in the river for the game.  It is a $25 section that included $2 domestic beers for Thirsty Thursday - the greatest day of the week at any minor league ballpark.  It's one of the wildest experiences we've ever had at a ballpark and was hands down the best game night of the trip, but we did have a few complaints.  First of all, how do you spend all of that money on a river and not make it a swim-up bar?  It's certainly not the worst thing in the world to have to make your way through a sea of bikinis on the way to the bar, but that seemed like a wasted opportunity by the team.  Secondly, you have to leave the area to get food of any kind.  I don't believe food was allowed in the river, only drinks, which makes sense - but there could have been a separate sitting area to eat.  Overall I'm not going to complain too much about getting drunk in a river on a hot night and meeting all sorts of interesting people, and a great game to boot.  It's amazing how much more social you get with a few beers in you in a pool-type setting, even for quiet guys like Erik and I that generally keep to ourselves.  The social aspect is what makes baseball great and I'm sure it's why well over half of the fans in attendance seemed to be either in the river or in a suite.

The game was surprisingly pretty poorly attended for a team that historically is near the top in attendance figures in all of minor league baseball, particularly considering it was the final homestand.  Frisco ended up holding on for a 4-3 victory over the Tulsa Drillers.  Erik and I were both impressed with starter Cody Bradford for the RoughRiders.  He struck out 10 over 5 innings, including 5 of the first 6 batters he faced.  It was supposed to be Drillers starter Landon Knack as the pitcher to watch, as he is the #11 Dodgers prospect, but he gave up 4 runs over his 5 innings of work including a 3-run bomb by Trevor Hauver that would knock Knack out of the game.  Andy Pages reduced the deficit to 1 in the 8th for the Drillers, but Grant Wolfram slammed the door in the 9th to earn his 2nd save.  The aforementioned Hauver was the offensive star of the night, also adding a single later in the evening to raise his average above the Mendoza Line, but with a remarkable .896 OPS to go along with the paltry average.

Following the game, we had a few drinks and apps at a bar called Wild Pitch next door to our hotel and called it a night.  Let's just say that Dallas is the "breastaurant" capital of the United States and was one of the few non-sports things we enjoyed about our time in Texas.

park rankings and statistics: 
aesthetics - 10
views from park - 3
view to field - 9
surrounding area - 7 (immediate area around park is sleepy apartments, but near our hotel was a lot of retail)
food variety - 6
nachos - 5
beer - 8 ($2 Thirsty Thursday but only 2 kinds)
vendor price - 2 ($14 for 2 tacos is pretty steep)
ticket price - 9 ($25 lazy river was well worth it)
atmosphere - 10
walk to park - 7
parking price/proximity - 8 (2-block walk fo' free)
concourses - 9 (if there was any sort of view from the stadium, it would be a 10)
team shop - 7 (points deducted for no programs, points added for sweet logo)
kids area - 5

best food - tacos
most unique stadium feature - design aesthetic, lazy river
best jumbotron feature - nothing of note
best between-inning feature - kids race

field dimensions - 335/409/335
starters - Landon Knack (TUL) v. Cody Bradford (FRI)
opponent - Tulsa Drillers
time of game - 2:29
attendance - 3692
score - 4-3 W
Brewers score that day - 2-1 W, 4-2 W (DH)

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 9/12/22:
Brewers 75-66, -8.0, -2.0 WC; 2 @ Cardinals, 3 v. Yankees, 3 v. Mets, 4 @ Reds
Twins 69-70, -4.5, -9.0 WC; 3 v. Royals, 5 @ Guardians, 3 @ Royals, 3 v. Angels

2022 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 4
Peter - 18