2025 – The Ballpark Year in Pictures

If construction on the Las Vegas Strip continues on time, the Athletics will move into an ultra-modern new stadium in 2028. In the meantime, the team partnered with the Sacramento River Cats to share Sutter Health Park for three seasons. I wrote an assessment of how the season went for USA TODAY Sports, but suffice it to say that while the hoped-for sell-out-every-day didn’t pan out, a lot did indeed go very well.

The Salt Lake Bees built a new ballpark in the far-south suburb of South Jordan, Utah. It’s a little bit of a trek from Downtown Salt Lake City, but that was by design, since they didn’t want it to be too close to where a MLB stadium will be built if the market is awarded an expansion franchise in a few years. The new Triple-A park (called The Ballpark at America First Square) is a stunner, easily one of the nicest in all of pro baseball. Check out our in-depth review here.

The winner of our BaseballParks.com 2025 Ballpark of the Year barely nudged out the Bees park. It’s Covent Health Park in downtown Knoxville, and the Double-A facility is the best of the 30 parks at that level. Architecture, food, surroundings, fan amenities, it’s all here. Check out our review to see why it’s the award-winner for 2025.

As a writer, every once in a great while you are given an opportunity to work on an article that is so profound, so moving that you’re scared you’re not going to be able to do the story justice. In 2025 I was given that blessing when I was told about Tim and Jamie Standard. You simply must read the story of their Someday Is Now Road Trip.

The Cleveland Guardians knew their 30-year-old ballpark needed renovations. They took their time in working with the city, county and state, and created a plan that extended the useful life of Progressive Field by decades. Read all about the upgrades and the planning that went into them.

You’re no doubt familiar with the story of the Tampa Bay Rays who were just about to sign contracts with the City and County to build a brand-new domed stadium next door to Tropicana Field. Then Hurricane Milton arrived in October 2024 and ripped the roof off of the Trop. The series of events that followed could fill many volumes, but suffice it to say that the Rays had to play the 2025 season at the Yankees’ spring park in Tampa, the City of St. Pete repaired the Trop’s roof and the franchise went through an ownership change. So the team will move back to the Trop in 2026 while looking to build a new park, this time likely in Tampa.

An under-reported story is how the family of the owners of the Chicago Cubs have purchased the rooftop businesses across Waveland and Sheffield from Wrigley’s bleachers. Only one is still independent and operating, WrigleyView. According to its owner, the Cubs made an offer, but for just a fraction of what the building is worth. Meanwhile, the Cubs and WrigleyView are in a court battle because there is no longer a contract between the two entities. Truly a David Versus Goliath faceoff. Read our summary of this bizarre tale.

Major League Baseball has a proud history of playing “jewel” events in locations that fans truly wanted to experience: the Field of Dreams movie site; Fort Bragg; the Little League World Series; London and the fabulous tribute to the Negro Leagues at Rickwood Field. So when MLB decided to bring a game to the NASCAR track in Bristol, Tennessee in August 2025, it seemed like a solid — if not spectacular — idea. But then it started to rain. And rain. And rain. While waiting for play to resume, fans emptied the concession stands. What should have been a feel-good story turned into a social-media shark feeding. When MLB was finally able to play the full game the following afternoon, tens of thousands of ticket-holders were no longer there, after their hotel and camp-ground reservations had ended. I had quite a lot to say about the events, since I was covering it for USA TODAY. Check out my “what I learned” column here.