Return to St. Paul

All photos of CHS Field available on Flickr.

My wife being out of town this past weekend presented a great opportunity to take the kids to their first ballgame of the season.  I decided on a St. Paul Saints game, which was their first visit to CHS Field, and my first visit since its inaugural season of 2015.  A lot has changed in those 9 years, for both myself and the Saints.  Megan and I were newly engaged at the time and living each day as it came to us.  Erik and his not-yet-wife were still living in Minneapolis.  All three of us had the free time to do something absurd like a Twin Cities doubleheader on the train.  And the Saints were still an independent league team in the American Association.  On Saturday's visit, there were now children involved - my two hyperactive children who spent most of the game eating and rolling down the berm, and the Saints as the "child" to its new parent club, the Minnesota Twins, dating back to the MiLB reorganization of 2021.  

We arrived just before a 1:07 first pitch of the first game of a doubleheader, and after a obligatory team store visit and wolfing down some dogs, made our way to our seats on the 1st base line.  My first natural inclination whenever I return to a park after a long layaway is to scan for anything that might have changed since my last visit.  By and large, the ballpark seems almost untouched, and frankly I don't think anything needed to be.  This was formerly my favorite indy park, and I'd still put it in the top 3 of all minor league parks now that it is a AAA affiliate.  It's just a really unique and thoughtfully designed ballpark that you can tell was not designed by a typical stadium architect, but still took the care to research what makes a good ballpark.  It's also very simple, well-organized yet not rigid, and really embraces its site, all of which are things you can ask any architect and they will say are crucial to a great outdoor space.  It feels like an extension of the city when you are inside and it feels like a ballpark that was built specifically for this one site in St. Paul, as opposed to so many parks that are plopped in a green site somewhere with no context.  The one notable addition to CHS Field since my last visit is the City of Baseball Museum near the Craft Beer Corner in left field (which is now operated by Summit Brewing).  This museum opened in 2019 as a repository to showcase the long history of baseball in Saint Paul, and also purposely doubling as a new group space for the stadium on its roof.  Unfortunately, I did not get to go inside with the kids in tow, but my office is only about 8 blocks from the ballpark, so I'm sure I will have many more opportunities to walk through it.  You don't see that many museums inside of ballparks, but when they're done right, they offer a unique opportunity and great use of space for a function that probably wouldn't generate a lot of revenue if it was a standalone building.

We were in our seats for about 3 innings and then meandered around the park, as one does at a minor league game.  We hit up the kids area for awhile (of course), and then settled in to the left field berm for the remainder of the 7-inning affair.  The kids did a great job and I actually got to watch most of the game, which the Saints dropped to the Rochester Red Wings by a 3-2 score.  They would go on to drop Game 2 of the twin bill after we left as well.  Both the Twins and the Red Wings parent Nationals are about middle-of-the-pack in their organization farm system rankings, but it seems like the teams are moving in opposite direction.  The Nats are in a rebuild and will likely continue to climb in terms of farm system depth, and their #2 overall prospect James Wood started in CF with an RBI single on the afternoon.  The Twins, on the other hand, have a lot of their better prospects either currently on the big league roster or in the lower levels at the moment.  Their highest ranked prospect in AAA is SS Brooks Lee, and he would probably also be in the bigs by now if he wasn't injured.  Louie Varland and Jhoan Duran are both in St. Paul right now on rehab assignments and both pitched in this game.  Varland got the start and gave up 1 run over 5, and Duran tossed a perfect 6th inning and has since been activated.  It was a pretty quick and uneventful game until the final inning.  Drew Millas homered and James Wood singled in another run in the top of the 7th for the Wings to break the tie at 3-1, and the Saints got one back in the bottom half with an RBI double by Alex Isola, but ultimately it was not enough for the victory.  As an aside, I got to see the Automatic Ball-Strike System (ABS) live in action for the first time in a game, and it will be long overdue when it is inevitably implemented by MLB.

I had an absolute blast with Molly and Elliot and I can't wait to take them back to another game, hopefully with Megan along next time so that I actually have a free hand to hold a frosty beverage.  The Twins are frankly a waste of money with small children unless you have a lot of help, and the St. Cloud Rox park is a bit too small and cramped for running around, but the Saints were a perfect middle ground.

updated park rankings and statistics

(see original post from 6/8/15):

aesthetics - 9
views from park - improves to 7 (nothing has changed, just not sure why I ever had it that low - great view from outfield to the city)
view to field - 10
surrounding area - improves to 4
food variety - 10
nachos - 8
beer - 9
vendor price - 4
ticket price - improves to 4
atmosphere - 8
walk to park - 2
parking price/proximity - decreases to 3 ($10 for a shady lot under the freeway)
concourses - 10
team shop - 8

kids area - 7 (new category - great location in the ballpark)

best food - not sure if "The Dog Park" still exists but sausages are still best food
most unique stadium feature - use of materials, zero-waste features
best jumbotron feature - Pet of the Game

best between-inning feature - ball pig!

field dimensions - 330/405/320

starters - Thaddeus Ward (ROC) v. Louie Varland (STP)
opponent - Rochester Red Wings
time of game - 2:06 (game 1 of doubleheader)
attendance - 4334
score - 3-2 L (7)

Brewers score that day - 15-3 L

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 5/3/24:

Brewers 19-11, +1.0; 3 @ Cubs, 3 @ Royals, 4 v. Cardinals, 3 v. Pirates

Twins 17-13, -2.5; 3 v. Red Sox, 4 v. Mariners, 3 @ Blue Jays, 3 v. Yankees

Orioles 20-11, +1.0; 3 @ Reds, 2 @ Nationals, 3 v. Diamondbacks, 3 v. Blue Jays

2024 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 1

Peter - 5