Ballpark: Rogers Centre

On Saturday, May 25, I attended the Blue Jays vs. Orioles game at Rogers Centre. As I was driving in to Toronto I heard on the radio that the Rogers Centre dome would be open. There was some debate whether or not that was a good decision - it was a beautiful day but Blue Jays starter and ace R.A. Dickey prefers to pitch with the dome closed. Since I was running late due to Toronto traffic, I bought an upperdeck ticket from a scalper but it actually turned out to be a very good seat since it was first row.

R.A. Dickey struggled in the top of the first inning with the dome open as he spotted the Orioles a 3-0 lead. It was interesting to see an knuckleballer throw because his motion looked much more relaxed than traditional pitchers. Adam Lind answered in the bottom of the inning with an RBI on the first of his three hits on the afternoon. After a parade of homeruns by both teams, the Orioles lead 6-3 going into the bottom of the 8th. The Blue Jays pushed a couple of runs across before Jose Bautista grounded out to shortstop to end the inning with the bases loaded prompting some of the 33,000+ fans to head for the exit. They didn't miss much as Jim Johnson sat down the Jays 1-2-3 in the ninth.

Rogers Centre is more of a traditional stadium than a ballpark. The focus of the stadium is more towards being efficient and transformable (Rogers Center serves as a home for a CFL team and occasionally the Buffalo Bills). From the outside the key feature is the white retractable roof. It was quite a hike up to my seat via a series of ramps from the gate entry. The ramps and upper concourses were mostly concrete and not overly attractive but the main concourse looked newly renovated. The food selection was pretty typical and I only got a souvenir soda since I pre-packed a sandwich for my drive in. One cool thing about the souvenir cup was that was good for one free refill. The seats and railings were a little older but I think that gave the stadium a classic baseball feel. From the inside, some features that stand out are the hotel above the center field wall, the astroturf playing surface, and the CN Tower visible overhead. The shade of green of the astroturf was a little lighter than grass and took some time to get used to. The CN Tower overhead was the attribute of the ballpark I liked the most - the tower seemed to be watching the game from above. Had the roof been closed, I would have missed this unique feature.

My take-away from Rogers Centre is that traditional stadiums are a dying breed among MLB ballparks. The view of the CN Tower might be the coolest view I had from a seat yet but the overall aesthetics of the stadium and the field were lacking. The main concourse tried to bring the ballpark into the modern era and a few renovations could make it a good home for Canada's only MLB franchise.