It’s time for our annual comparison of the two parks in this World Series. Milwaukee’s American Family Field is hosting its first Fall Classic, and Tampa Bay’s Tropicana Field is hosting its second (in 2020, they played the Dodgers in a “bubble” with the Series at a neutral site during COVID).

You’ve seen the commercials and promotions for DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, Kalshi and countless other ways to place bets on sports. In fact, you’ve likely seen their logos thousands of times. For instance, so cozy is the relationship between sports leagues and these sportsbooks that when you open the MLB app on your phone, you see this image, complete with a clickable link so you can place a bet (technically a “prediction”) on your favorite team.

All of this is legal because in 2018 the Supreme Court struck down a previous law that essentially made betting on sports illegal in almost all states. Now most states have rushed to welcome in the sportsbooks, in hopes of gaining millions in taxes from them.

But just because it’s legal, does that make it a good idea? I don’t think so, and I explain why in the editorial entitled “Legalized sports gambling: a losing bet.” Agree or disagree, leave a comment at the end of the op-ed.

DBH now owns 40% of all affiliated Minor League franchises. Is this a good thing for the sport, or not? Check our profile of DBH to find out.

Drumroll please …

There were five new ballparks in 2026, but only one could be our Ballpark of the Year. The selection committee (Joe Mock, Doug Greenwald and Graham Knight) voted, and the winner is ONT Field, home of the Cal League’s Ontario Tower Buzzers.

Read the announcement article that first appeared in USA TODAY Sports Weekly here.

Check out the press release sent to the media about the award here.

Our in-depth review of this exceptional park can be found here.

The voting for the honor was quite close, with ONT Field garnering 14 points, including two first-place votes, and Erlanger Park in Chattanooga getting 12 points, including one first-place vote. Not far behind was Hops Ballpark in Hillsboro, with 10 points. “Most years, any of these top three would’ve won our award, as they represent three of the very best parks in the Minors today,” said webmaster Joe Mock.

The city of Hillsboro, Oregon and the Hops baseball team faced an enormous problem. To become compliant with the new standards that MLB had imposed on Minor League ballparks, it was going to cost over $100 million to do the necessary renovations on their existing park — a park that was only 13 years old. That’s when the decision to pivot occurred. Why throw that much money at a facility that still wasn’t going to have all of the amenities that today’s fan desires?

Instead, they pivoted to building a brand-new ballpark.

And the perfect spot to build it was on an oddly shaped parcel of land just a ground-rule double away from the old park.

That new stadium is called (for now) Hops Ballpark, and one can scarcely believe that the old and the new facilities were built for the same sport, as the new version has a mind-boggling array of amenities that would never have been possible at the old place. And number 1 on the list of new amenities is food-preparation capabilities that place their concessions at the very top of the Minors.

So check out how this new showplace came to be, and how its features meet the big-league demands of fans in the Portland area. It’s all in our in-depth review of Hops Ballpark.