BREWERS WIN FIRST WORLD SERIES!!!!!!!!!!

(photo copyright: The Associated Press)

All photos of WS Game 1 watch party and WS Game 2 @ AmFam Field available on Flickr.

It finally happened and I still can't believe it!  The Brewers not only made it back to the World Series for the first time in 44 years, but they won the whole damn thing, defeating the Tampa Bay Rays in 5 games for their first World Championship in franchise history.  I was born two months after the Brewers were last in the World Series in 1982, so I have literally been waiting my entire life for this, as were many generations of Brewers fans all throughout Wisconsin and the world.  It was a very tense and exciting month of October in the Nagel household, so I can only imagine how the players and staff must have felt.  I sat (stood) on pins and needles with every pitch, I rode the highs and the lows (mostly highs), and my wife and I leapt for joy when Brice Turang threw to Jake Bauers to record the final out on Wednesday night, October 25th, 2026, a date that will go down in Brewers history forever.  I still find myself grinning and fist pumping randomly nearly a week later and I could not be more happy and proud of this team.  Not only did they win the World Series, but the championship puts a bow on what was their greatest regular season in franchise history, with one of the historically most dominant postseasons of all time with an 11-2 record, including an NLCS sweep of the vaunted Dodgers.  And they did it with just about everybody on the roster contributing and having a big moment along the way, which was a hallmark of the 2026 Brewers.

Equally as important for me is that I got to share the World Series with many of my closest friends and family as well as hundreds of thousands of rabid Brewers fans in Milwaukee for Games 1 and 2.  I drove into town Friday night, and my brother and I watched Game 1 at a watch party and a couple of bars downtown.  I was super excited to have tickets to Game 2 and that was obviously the main reason I drove to Milwaukee, but quite honestly the experience would not have been the same if all I did was go to AmFam for the game and then left the next day.  To feel and and be a part of that palpable energy Friday night in the city was indescribable.  The shared experience of a bar full of people crammed shoulder to shoulder watching the game and cheering loudly with every pitch made me feel so proud and fortunate, and the 3-2 Game 1 win just got me that much more excited (and hoarse) for Game 2.  

Saturday was the big day, and I had friends far and wide driving and flying from all over the country to be a part of this highly anticipated moment, including of course Erik.  I got to tailgate with my dad, my brother, and many of my best friends, who were all in one place for the first time since my wedding ten years ago.  Again, the shared experience is what makes baseball great and it is what made this day so special.  Yes, I would have gone to the game alone if I had to, but getting to share that joy and excitement with a dozen other loved ones and a parking lot full of lunatics (including the Racing Sausages) was amazing.  I'm running out of synonyms to describe the events of the weekend, and it's really difficult to put into words the level of happiness and unity I felt.  It was the most excited and happy I've been since my aforementioned wedding day, and it was a day and weekend I will never forget for the rest of my life.  The cherry on top was the Brewers completed a 5-4 comeback victory Saturday in what was probably the best game of the series to take a commanding 2-0 lead.  It's been over a week and I am still thinking about that day, and I never want this feeling to go away.  I saw my friend Josh cry several times, I hugged complete strangers, and I high-fived just about everybody I saw.  The electricity of hundreds of thousands of people putting aside their backgrounds and differences to celebrate a common goal is something our country could use a little bit more of and it's exactly why sports are important.

The celebration would continue into the night on Wednesday after they clinched, Thursday night at Lambeau Field, Friday at the victory parade, Saturday night on SNL and trick-or-treating, Sunday night when Turang and Jackson Chourio were awarded Gold Gloves, and Sal Frelick is probably still partying today.  There were an estimated 750,000 screaming fans at the parade on Friday, which would be the largest single-day event gathering in the history of Wisconsin.  Milwaukee Public Schools even closed to commemorate the event.  Those gathered included Brewer players past and present who have also been waiting a long time for this moment.  This team plays for each other and they play for the fans, and when you see the joy and emotion in the players' faces, it makes it hard not to love this team whether you're a Brewer fan or not.  Listening to and watching that parade online made my eyes water more than once and made me wish I was drunk back in Milwaukee all over again.

My final post of every season is generally some version of me venting my disappointments of the year and setting my expectations for the following year.  WORLD CHAMPIONS is all I have to say to that!  This team is built for the long haul, and there is no reason to believe that they won't be able to run it back with what should be largely the same roster.  One could even argue that we might potentially be even better as the young players continue to mature and our #1 farm system players start to trickle into the big leagues.  Re-signing Jake Bauers, deciding what to do about Brandon Woodruff, and possibly exploring trades for Andrew Vaughn or Trevor Megill, are really the only loose ends to tie up this offseason.  The only thing that might stand in the way of another deep playoff run is the impending lockout, and if the smallest market in MLB winning the World Series can't save baseball then I don't know what will.  A lockout will suck for Erik and I, but the silver lining is that we get to call ourselves "defending world champions" that much longer and savor it that much more.

FINAL 2026 STANDINGS:

BREWERS WORLD CHAMPIONS!

FINAL 2026 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 9

Peter - 26

2026 MLB Postseason

I can't believe it's almost October already!  I feel like I've been writing the same thing about the Brewers for the last 5 years or so, but I'll say it again - they overachieved and stunned the baseball world yet again this season in route to the best record in MLB at 103-59.  The 103 wins topped last year's franchise record of 97, and this group keeps getting better.  Despite making their 8th postseason in the last 9 years, with their 4th straight division title, they were picked before the season to finish just 83-79 this year with 41% playoff odds.  I'm not sure what it will take to ever change people's perceptions of this team, but I know that Murph and the boys wouldn't have it any other way and prefer being the underdog.  Captain Yelich and Sal Frelick took a bit of a step back this year, but by and large almost everyone else on the team enjoyed marked improvement, and in some cases the best seasons of their career.  It takes breakout seasons from a number of folks to win in the margins like we do, and we got just that from players like Jake Bauers, Joey Ortiz, Garrett Mitchell, DL Hall, Logan Henderson, and likely Cy Young winner Jacob Misiorowski.  It also takes meaningful contributions from rookies for teams like us to enjoy success, and that is easy to see with our rotation that has a combined years of experience less than some team's aces.  Cooper Pratt and Luis Lara stepped right into the fire and have looked the part from day one.  It's hard not to be hopeful and it's hard not to say this every year - and I have - but I truly believe this team has the talent to go all the way this year.  It objectively feels like our most complete team since the 2018 season, in which we were just one win away from reaching the World Series.

There were plenty of other exciting non-Brewers storylines this year - or lack thereof in the case of the historically horrendous American League.  The AL saw a team in the White Sox go from three consecutive 100-loss seasons to making the playoffs because their league is so horrible, and it also features the Astros winning the West despite not having a winning record.  The Phillies were almost this year's Mets and avoided a near-epic collapse by clinching on the final day of the season.  Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Cal Raleigh, and their respective teams, had two of the most mind-boggling disappointing seasons in recent memory, while the Red Sox were so bad they got Alex Cora fired before turning it around to make the playoffs.  Shohei proved he was human and the Dodgers are noticeably aging before our eyes, but they still won 100 games.  First-ballot Hall-of-Famers Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer both (probably) closed out their storied careers this weekend and finished within just 3 career strikeouts of each other.  And I also suppose I have to mention PCA notching the seventh 40-40 season in MLB history.  Hopefully the 2026 season will be remembered for the positives and not for the impending lockout.

I picked the Dodgers over the Mariners in the World Series before the season, as I'm sure just about everybody did.  Hopefully this is finally the Brewers year!

PLAYOFFS START 9/29/26
NL Wild Card Round - #3 Braves host #6 Phillies, #4 Padres host #5 Cubs
NLDS - #1 Brewers v. 4/5 Winner, #2 Dodgers v. 3/6 Winner

AL Wild Card Round - #3 Astros host #6 White Sox, #4 Yankees host #5 Red Sox
ALDS - #1 Rays v. 4/5 Winner, #2 Guardians v. 3/6 Winner

World Series Prediction: Brewers defeat Rays in 6
Rooting for: Brewers v. Guardians

Preseason Predictions:
#1 Phillies
#2 Dodgers
#3 Brewers
#4 Mets
#5 Cubs
#6 Giants

#1 Red Sox
#2 Tigers
#3 Mariners
#4 Yankees
#5 Orioles
#6 Blue Jays

Preseason World Series Prediction: Dodgers defeat Mariners

FINAL STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 9/28/26:

Brewers 103-59, +14.0, 1st NL Central; NLDS v. 4/5 Winner

Twins 77-85, - 8.0, 3rd AL Central; eliminated

2026 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 8

Peter - 25

Ranking the MLB Mascot Races

In honor of the Brewers' Chorizo Racing Sausage celebrating his/her/their/its 20th birthday this summer, I thought it would be fun to rank my top 5 MLB mascot races (mostly just because I love ranking things).  I originally wanted to rank all 30, but I quickly realized that many teams have either a very lackluster race or none at all.  The only rule I gave myself was that I could only rank races I've seen in person.

1.  Milwaukee Brewers - The Famous Racing Sausages

As subjective and ridiculous as this list is, I don't think you'll get an argument from anybody on #1.  It is the original live mascot race dating back to 1993, and has its origins on the old pixelated County Stadium jumbotron even before that.  Probably best known outside of Milwaukee as the race that got Randall Simon fined for disorderly conduct.

2.  Washington Nationals - Presidents Race

This is a bit of a sentimental pick for me.  I attended many Nats games during their inaugural season of 2005 while living in DC, and thus got to see one of their first races, which like the Brewers' race began as an animated jumbotron race.  The running joke for years was that Teddy Roosevelt never won a race, but that finally changed in 2012.  Primarily the race features the 4 Mount Rushmore presidents, but there have been some other guest presidents mixed in here and there.

3.  Pittsburgh Pirates - Great Pierogi Race

The Pierogis round out what are probably the 3 most iconic mascot races.  This race started shortly after the Sausage Race and now features 6 flavored participants.  There has been no retaliation yet on Potato Pete for the aforementioned Randall Simon assault as far as I know.

4.  Cleveland Guardians - Hot Dog Derby

There are several teams that have pretty much the exact same race including Kansas City and Baltimore, but Cleveland is the first and the best so it earns the spot in my rankings.  It's not so much a hot dog race as it is a condiment race, with the competitors being Ketchup, Mustard, and Onion.  Incidentally, Cleveland's "world famous" mustard is the best condiment in all of baseball outside of Milwaukee's Secret Stadium Sauce.

5.  Minnesota Twins - Race to Target Field

I was deciding between this and the Mariners' Salmon Run for the final spot, but I gotta be a homer on this one.  This race was introduced upon the opening of Target Field in 2010 and features anthropomorphic representations of various Minnesota creatures, including Babe the Blue Ox, the Target dog, and a giant mosquito.

Honorable Mentions:

Cincinnati Reds Mascot Race - probably the one I've seen the most outside of the Sausages, and I have many fond college memories of this one.

Atlanta Braves "Beat the Freeze" - this isn't truly a mascot race, but it's better than everything else on this list so I have to mention it.  The Freeze is played by a professional track sprinter who races an ordinary fan from pole to pole along the outfield warning track, but the gimmick is that the fan gets about a halfway head start and still almost always loses.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 9/14/26:

Brewers 93-57, +10.0, clinched playoffs; 3 @ Pirates, 3 @ Orioles, 3 @ Phillies, 3 v. Cardinals

Twins 70-79, - 6.0, -5.5 WC; 3 v. Yankees, 4 @ Angels, 3 @ Giants, 3 v. Rangers

2026 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 8

Peter - 25

Northwoods League Adds Two More Teams for 2027

A couple of small Midwestern towns announced this year that they will be awarded 2027 expansion franchises in the Northwoods League - Dyersville, Iowa and New Buffalo, Michigan.  The population of Dyersville and New Buffalo combined equals about 6,000 people, which is still smaller than the next smallest city on the circuit, Traverse City, Michigan.  The Northwoods League has proven time and again that they can make their product work even in the most remote and smallest of markets, but these two experiments will certainly put that to the test.

Pardon the reference, but Dyersville is truly employing the "if you build it they will come" approach.  The Dyersville Dreamers are going all-in on a permanent ballpark at the Field of Dreams site, piggybacking on the popular MLB and MiLB games that have been held there, and banking on the fact that a small farming town in the middle of Iowa can lure enough fans to make it profitable.  The Field of Dreams has been the #1 tourist destination in the state since the movie was released almost 40 years ago, so likely the ownership is relying on a lot of revenue through tourism as well - which has historically been a dangerous recipe for success.  The nearest place resembling a city is Dubuque about 30 minutes east.  New Buffalo is nestled on the Lake Michigan shore in the southwestern corner of the state, and is even smaller than Dyersville with about 1,700 year-round residents - so small in fact that they're playing at a local high school field.  The Dyersville team makes some sense to me since they built the ballpark for the Field of Dreams Game anyways so why not use it, but I can't fathom the New Buffalo team being that big of a draw.  The place moniker they've chosen in "Dune Coast" implies they're hoping for a regional outreach, but again this area is primarily known for tourism which isn't usually a reliable formula.  Not to mention the area population has been steadily declining over the past few decades.  The location does make sense within the footprint of the league, but beyond that I'm at a loss.  It was revealed a few weeks ago that they will be known as the Dune Coast Quillbacks, in reference to the porcupines that were once native to the area.

Even though the league is adding two more teams, this is technically not an expansion, as the league total should remain at 26 for at least the 2027 season.  The Rochester Honkers announced that, after over 30 years in the league, they would be going on an indefinite hiatus due to deteriorating conditions at Mayo Field.  I attended a Honkers game in 2009 and even back then it was one of the worst maintained stadiums I've ever been to, so I can't imagine how bad things must have gotten over the last 17 years to finally say enough is enough.  The Rox and the Wausau Woodchucks are now the lone remaining of the original 5 franchises.  With the removal of the Honkers and the addition of the Dreamers and Quillbacks, that makes for a total of 27, so I can only assume the traveling Minnesota Mud Puppies team will cease operations for 2027 as well, which gets us back to the 26 teams.  This league continues to grow faster than I can visit its ballparks, but I'm excited for a future visit to the Field of Dreams with my family.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 8/24/26:

Brewers 81-50, +6.0; 3 @ Mets, 3 v. Rangers, 4 @ Cubs, 3 @ Reds, 3 v. Cubs, 3 v. Reds

Twins 63-68, - 5.5, -2.0 WC; 3 @ Athletics, 3 v. White Sox, 3 v. Tigers, 3 @ White Sox, 3 @ Tigers, 3 v. Guardians

2026 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 7

Peter - 25

Banana Ball in Minneapolis

All photos of Banana Ball @ Target Field available on Flickr.

My family and I finally got to experience the phenomenon that is Banana Ball for the first time yesterday.  I wouldn't necessarily say this was a "baseball bucket list" item for me, but we've definitely been trying to go for awhile, as it's been soaring in popularity every year and selling out venues across the country on an annual basis.  Because of how in demand tickets are and their barnstorming setup in which these teams play a unique mostly road schedule every season, the process for getting tickets is pretty arduous.  You have to sign up for a mailing list which then gets you the opportunity to sign up for a ticket lottery for select cities, but even winning the lottery does not guarantee that you will get tickets as we found out last year when they played in St. Paul.  Within literal seconds of clicking the ticket link, the entire 7,000+ seat stadium was sold out.  We were also unsuccessful in registering for tickets in 2024 in Des Moines.  This year, the Bananas were scheduled for 3 dates at Target Field, which is over 5x the size of the minor league venues in St. Paul and Des Moines, so we were a little more confident we'd be able to snag seats this year.  Long story short - we were part of a sellout crowd on Sunday.  Sadly, this was probably the most full I've ever seen Target Field including postseason games, but it's also a testament to a sport that has been selling out 100,000 seat football stadiums with ease.

We had some idea of how big the crowd would be before we even got there.  It took us about 2 1/2 hours to get from our house in Cold Spring to a parking garage - for context that is about double the normal drive time.  I-394 was backed up for miles into the stadium ramps, which switched to FULL just as we were entering, and we had to scurry into the closest open ramp we could find.  I love a lot about Target Field, but it is one of the worst stadiums in baseball to park at for a capacity crowd (thankfully that rarely happens for the Twins).  Despite the delays, we still managed to get inside about 15 minutes before first pitch, and we took our excellent seats in the 3rd row by the right field pole.  The Banana Ball Championship League is now up to 6 teams, and we were fortunate enough to be seeing the OG Bananas vs. the Loco Beach Coconuts.

I could probably spend hours and an entire post just explaining the origins of Banana Ball and its rules, but in the interest of brevity, I'll try to distill this to one paragraph.  Banana Ball is basically an offshoot of baseball meant to emphasize fun, fans, and constant action.  It started as a few wacky exhibition games played by the Savannah Bananas, who actually used to be a real summer collegiate team that replaced the former Sand Gnats in 2016 (whom we saw on the Tour).  When those exhibition games started to become more popular and better than real baseball, the Bananas ditched the Coastal Plains League entirely in 2023 and Banana Ball was officially formed.  In its infancy the schedule was sparse, with barnstorming games played against existing organized baseball teams, but as of this year it has grown into its own official league with six dedicated teams and a 7+ month schedule.  Savannah is still "home" to the Bananas and hosts games a few times a month for the home fans, but by and large it is still a barnstorming schedule, with a new slate of road cities and games introduced every year, some of them not even being played in baseball stadiums.  The difference in 2026 is that it is now an incorporated league, so there are team standings with an actual championship series played in October.  As I mentioned, the game is rooted in baseball and its basic structure would be recognizable to baseball fans, but it has many quirky rules that are meant to keep fans engaged.  I won't get into all of them, but some of them include no walks, the winner of each inning gets one point (so technically every inning can be a walk-off), a "Golden Batter" that can hit at any spot in the lineup, and foul balls caught by fans count as an out.  This last rule was particularly important this weekend at Target Field, as Minneapolis fans recorded a record 10 outs in Saturday night's contest.  For anybody who attends a Banana Ball game, you'll quickly realize that anything goes so long as nobody gets injured or embarrassed.  It's a spectacle that is basically a circus troupe performing baseball.  There is a stat called "trick plays" and it is not uncommon to see players regularly do back flips or catch balls between their legs or behind their backs.  It gets to the point where seeing just a regular no-frills baseball play occur on the field is shocking.

We saw the Loco Beach Coconuts defeat the Savannah Bananas by a final score of 3-2.  I think?  It might have been 4-3.  There are no box scores and I'm not going to pretend I knew half of what was going on, but that's not exactly the point.  I was surprised that the scoreboard even showed batting averages and RBI totals which seemed out of place for this sport.  I remember that the Coconuts walked it off in the 9th and I was bummed that it did not go to extra inning "showdowns" which is the wild Banana Ball version of extra innings that involves just a catcher, pitcher, and a batter, with no other fielders.  The two coolest parts of the game were when one of the Bananas batters hit while wearing stilts, and when Twins legend and 2006 AL MVP Justin Morneau came out to play first base for an inning.  It seemed to be a little staged with one easy grounder to short and one ball that was probably purposely thrown up the line for him to snag, but he clearly still had the ability to play and made a couple of nice plays.  2022 HOF Inductee Tony Oliva also came out and "coached third base" for one batter at the ripe old age of 88.  Watching Tony O brought back a lot of memories of Erik and I seeing him in a suite full of adoring women every time we were at the Metrodome.  The way the Bananas incorporate local celebrities and former players into their games is one of best parts of what they do and just further emphasizes their credo - give the fans what they want to see.

Our kids loved the non-stop music and thrills and had an absolute blast!  If a 5-year old and an 8-year old can stay engaged with anything for two hours let alone baseball, then we know that Banana Ball has achieved its goal.  We are all hoping that this is not the last time we'll get to experience one of these events, but if so, it was worth every penny.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 8/10/26:

Brewers 74-44, +5.5; 3 @ Padres, 4 @ Dodgers, 3 v. Mariners, 2 v. Braves, Little League Classic v. Braves

Twins 58-61, - 4.0, -1.5 WC; 3 v. Orioles, Field of Dreams Game v. Phillies, 2 v. Phillies, 3 v. Braves, 3 @ Padres

2026 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 7

Peter - 25

Brewers Creating "Truss Club" for 2027

(image courtesy of Brewers.com and Ramlow/Stein Architecture)

The Milwaukee Brewers finally gave their fans a peek behind the curtain last month and let us in on what all the secret construction has been going on at the stadium - a new premium club slated to open in 2027.  This doesn't seem like a real statistic, but supposedly the Brewers and A's are the only MLB teams that do not have a premium area tied to the seats behind home plate, so this is their proposed solution to that problem - think Champions Club in Minnesota, Lexus Club in Texas, Truist Club in Atlanta, etc.  The unique challenge in the Brewers' case is that there is obviously not enough room to add a 20,000 square foot space into an existing stadium, so this club will actually be an addition in the right field corner that is not directly attached to the area it serves.  This project will be the most significant exterior change to the stadium since it opened in 2001, and is being funded primarily by the contentious budget bill that passed in late 2023, which has vague language in it that requires the stadium district to fund projects that will "keep it within the top 25% of major league ballparks."

Putting the public money part aside for now, for the most part I'm a big fan of this project.  It's certainly needed and looks beautiful aside from the disgusting green brick, I don't understand that choice at all.  Yeah I get it's the Truss Club and the trusses are green...so just paint the steel green then and use a normal brick that exists in nature.  I like that the Brewers are making lemonade out of lemons with the outdoor space opportunity.  If they can't fit this thing inside the footprint of the stadium and these people have to walk from the club to their seats, then it should absolutely have outdoor seating and views as a trade-off, that was a good move to set them apart.  Upgrading the seats behind home plate as a part of this makes a ton of sense.  I also like the inclusion of valet parking and the private entrance, and I like that they are not replacing more seats inside the park with a group area like they have been over the years (although most have been very successful).  My major complaint is that it's only available for season ticket holders and regular people can't buy tickets here.  I'm not going to go so far as to say that it should be an all-fan access area, but they should set aside a certain amount of tickets for regular fans to splurge on these.  Erik and I have shifted our preferred sitting area slowly over the years from nosebleeds and bleachers to first level and premium clubs like this one, and it is a fantastic intimate way to experience a ballpark that you might only go to once in your life or very occasionally.  The Twins and now the Brewers are the only parks I can think of where only season ticket holders have access to their home plate clubs.  If they are going to use taxpayer dollars to fund this thing, then all taxpayers should have a chance to enjoy it.  I know a lot of season ticket holders are also complaining about basically either being forced into this option at double the cost or to change their seats they've had for 25 years, so I'm sure many everyday fans would welcome the chance to tap in and experience this club once in awhile.

The 2027 schedule was released during the All-Star Break and as of now it looks like the Brewers' home opener aligns with Easter weekend, so if by some miracle we don't have a lockout that impacts games, I hope to be able to find reasonable tickets on a third-party site for Opening Day.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 7/28/26:

Brewers 66-40, +6.0; 3 @ Giants, 3 @ Angels, 4 v. Pirates, 3 v. Twins

Twins 53-54, - 3.0, -1.0 WC; 3 v. Royals, 3 @ Mariners, 3 @ Royals, 3 @ Brewers

2026 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 7

Peter - 22

Tour 2026: MLB Homerun Derby & All-Star Workout Day

All photos of Philadelphia, All-Star Village, All-Star Workout Day, and Homerun Derby available on Flickr.

Monday was the jewel event of All-Star Week: the Homerun Derby.  Gates didn't open until 5pm, so we had some time to kill.  We started our day at the All-Star Village back at the convention center.  It was nearly identical to the Fan Fest we went to 12 years ago in Minneapolis and had many of the same features: the "world's largest baseball" to greet you when you walked in, giant team store (from which we refrained significantly more than in 2014), baseball-related activities, baseball exhibits, a Topps Cards shop, player autograph sessions, and even the same S.Preston minimalist art gallery.  I remember meeting the artist at the Minneapolis fest just as he was starting out and talking through concepts and ideas for new prints, and now he's so successful that he didn't even show up to his own gallery - and I own several of his prints, including the County Stadium one I suggested to him.  We took some hacks at the batting cage just as we did in 2014, but sadly the 2026 version did not have an activation where you could race a virtual big leaguer.  I probably still would not be able to beat Bryce Harper 12 years later, but I'd like to believe my pants wouldn't have fallen down this time.  The other activation we participated in was softball speed pitch.  Let's just say I was not even close to approaching the 70mph these girls typically throw.  There were long lines for everything as expected, including the Monday morning Budweiser line.  It's a cool fest and it's nice to have something for visitors to do between events, but once you've seen one you've seen them all.  After a couple hours we'd seen everything we were interested in and walked across the street to Reading Terminal Market for lunch.  This market opened in 1893 under the former Reading Railroad Terminal (yes, the same Reading from Monopoly) and still operates today as one of the largest and oldest public markets in the country.  There had to be at least 100 vendors in there, and was mostly hot prepared food as opposed to the fresh farm goods and nonperishables type of market.  I finally got my much-anticipated cheesesteak here, and although it would not be considered authentic by Philadelphia's high standards, it was delicious.  Note to those visiting Philly: a real cheesesteak is just steak and cheez whiz, with or without onions ("Wiz Wit" or "Wiz Witout").  No other types of cheese, no peppers, nothing else.  After eating huge dense sandwiches in a hot stuffy market, we both needed to go lay down back at the hotel for a bit (getting old sucks).  We then had a couple of drinks at a pub called The Dandelion down the street, and before we knew it it was time to head down to the park.

We had significantly more time to explore CBP than we did on Sunday, and we did a couple of laps before heading up to our upper deck seats.  It's hard to remember what has changed since our last visit, but looking through old photos, it looks largely the same aside from the batter's eye ivy growing in fuller and obviously a new modern scoreboard.  Citizens Bank Park is an above-average ballpark and is pretty close to how I would lay one out if I was drawing one up from scratch.  The club we were in Sunday seems to be the biggest change in the years since 2007, so I'm grateful that Erik splurged for those seats.  Speaking of splurged, the tickets for the homerun derby cost more than I care to admit, but it was so worth it and All-Star Week is simply a must-do for any baseball fan at some point in their lives.  We were still full from Reading Market, so we spent the majority of our walking around focused on finding the "Liberty Bell Beers" that were supposedly available for All-Star Week, but we never found them nor saw anybody with them.  We filled that gaping void in our souls with ice cream helmets instead.  Erik devoured a decadent "Schwarbomb Sundae" which included a fried strawberry Uncrustable and topped with Fruity Pebbles, while I opted for a normal human amount of ice cream.  With our waist bands expanded, we made our way up to our seats and watched a couple hours of BP and pregame.  Our seats were basically the cheapest we could find but actually not bad at all, about halfway up in the 400 level directly behind home plate.  We had a great view of the Philly skyline from here that we could not really see in 2005 or '07 from the lower bowl.  Munetaka Murakami put on a show in batting practice and earned my pick to win the Derby.

Erik and I have never really cared for the All-Star Game itself and have always preferred the homerun derby.  Even when the ear-bleeding Chris Berman was on the mic for the old ESPN broadcasts, it was always what I looked forward to the most during the break.  It certainly feels like it has now become the jewel event of All-Star Week, and that is due in large part to it being an event that is made for television, with opportunities do to things with cameras and media and players that you just can't do during a normal game.  This was the first year the event was covered on Netflix, and by all indications, Erik and I got the better end of the stick being there in person.  One thing you can't adequately capture on TV is the crowd and the atmosphere.  Philly fans are notoriously harsh and difficult fans, and it was cool to see how invested they were in the exhibition, even if that meant booing everyone who was not a Phillie.  They even booed kids who dropped fly balls in the outfield.  Some of this I think is them just leaning into a stereotype a little bit, and we were more than happy to join in.  For as much as Philly fans will voice their displeasure with you, they are also the best fans in the league to have in your corner if you give them a moment to be proud of.  The roar of the sellout audience for Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber being introduced was deafening and emotional, and it made you want to cheer for them along with everyone else.  When I saw the home-plate shaped boxing ring set up at second base, I got so excited to hear that Rocky theme and see Sly Stallone saunter his way out, but that would be our second major disappointment of the day.  They opted for Philly's own Michael Buffer instead and it was still quite the spectacle.

Jordan Walker ended up winning the derby with an epic final round against hometown hero Kyle Schwarber.  MLB abandoned the timed rounds that have been in place since 2015 and changed the rules this year to closer mimic the old rules.  Batters had 20 swings in the first round and 15 in subsequent rounds.  For the final swing of each round, the pitchers switched to a magenta ball that could go on as long as batters kept homering on it.  It was clear that batters were not picking it up out of the hand and I think I can recall only one homer on the magenta ball.  This includes the final round, which Walker won controversially because for whatever reason, he did not see any magenta balls that round.  He was behind by 3 or 4 homers going into the final ball and ended up going on a hot streak to win.  Maybe they ran out of the magenta balls or maybe it was an honest mistake by the pitcher, but there is no such thing as an honest mistake on Philadelphia sports talk radio, and conspiracy theories abounded the next day.  As much as I hate to admit it, the most impressive individual round was by William Contreras' asshole brother Willson.  He cranked the longest homerun of the day at over 490' and posted the highest first round score with 13.  Contreras is probably accustomed to getting booed and used that as fuel rather than a distraction.  I'll give him credit though - at least he didn't charge the mound.  On Tuesday, he would become the first player in MLB history to participate in the All-Star Game while under active suspension.

This was the first trip I can recall in a long time where at least one of us didn't have to wake up at dawn to catch a flight, so we actually got a good night's sleep and parted our separate ways on Tuesday morning.  I know I say this every year, but I always leave these trips with a heavy sense of gratitude and joy that we still get to do these every year.  Most years I only get to see Erik once, so we always value our time together.  Next year's trip will be interesting with the impending lockout, but we've got a framework of an idea in the works.

park stats and rankings
(see original rankings from 07/14/07):
aesthetics - 7
views from park - 7
view to field - 8
surrounding area - increases to 4 (new Stateside Live! bar)
food variety - 9
nachos - 6
beer - 7
vendor price - 6 (new specialty All-Star items are pricy but regular items are fair)
ticket price - decreases to 5
atmosphere - 8 (Futures was a 6 and Derby was a 10)
walk to park - 2
parking price/proximity - 9
concourses - 9
team shop - 8
kids area - 8 (new category - includes Philly Phanatic climbing wall and mini playing field)

best food - Philly cheese steak from Tony's
most unique stadium feature - Liberty Bell
best jumbotron feature - Philadelphia trivia
best between-inning feature - Futures Game "Race to the Majors"

field dimensions - 329/401/330
attendance - 43863

HOMERUN DERBY PARTICIPANTS: 
Willson Contreras, Boston
Jordan Walker, St. Louis
Jac Caglianone, Kansas City
Munetaka Murakami, Chi White Sox
Ben Rice, NY Yankees
Junior Caminero, Tampa Bay
Kyle Schwarber, Philadelphia
Bryce Harper, Philadelphia

winner - Jordan Walker
score – 12-11 final round, 31 total
stadium - Citizens Bank Park