Text and photos by Joe Mock
All rights reserved
If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it COVID-19 times: 2020 is a year like no other. And that’s not a complimentary statement, either.
So it only stands to reason that the World Series won’t be like any Fall Classic of the past.
All contests in the best-of-seven series will be played at the same ballpark. And it’s not the home park of either of the contestants.
That’s 2020 for you.
It usually doesn’t end up like this, but the two teams with the best regular-season record in their league — the Dodgers in the NL and the Rays in the AL — are facing off in this year’s World Series. (Check out our in-depth look at the reasons why MLB chose to conduct the postseason like they did.)
And it’s also a rare year when both the ALCS and NLCS go a full seven games, but that’s the case this year. The last time that occurred was 2004.
The Dodgers have a long, long glorious history, dating back to the Brooklyn Grays in 1883. Prior to the official adoption of “Dodgers” in 1932, they went by various nicknames, such as Superbas, Robins and Trolley Dodgers. Their homes included Ebbets Field in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn from 1913-1957, the Los Angeles Coliseum in 1958 through 1961, and Dodger Stadium since 1962.
Despite the fact that the team is considered one of the top franchises in the game, the team hasn’t won a Fall Classic since 1988 … even though the talent-rich (which comes along with having a big budget) Dodgers have won the last eight NL West divisional titles, and went to the World Series in both 2017 and 2018.
The Rays have never won a championship, although they came close in 2008 when they made their lone trip to the Fall Classic, falling to the Phillies.
So let’s take a look at the ballpark at the neutral site of Arlington, Texas … even though this will be the first time that we’ve done this feature (going back to 2003) when we weren’t comparing two different parks!
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Outside |
Globe Life Field |
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| The home of the Rangers (who failed to come close to making the playoffs in 2020) celebrated its Opening Day — without fans, of course — on July 24, 2020 | Year opened |
| This was built in a parking lot used by the Rangers when they played at Globe Life Park | Site |
| Because we’ve not been able to write a proper review due to the lack of open amenities in 2020, the jury is still out … but it deserves to be in the top ten | Our ranking among 30 MLB parks |
| 40,300, but only about 11,000 fans are permitted for World Series games … so the stadium operators will be piping in artificial crowd noise | Seating capacity |
| Artificial, made by Shaw Sports | Playing surface |
| The largest retractable roof in the Majors. An extremely high crows nest high above center field (see photo below). A lovely series of arches along the upper concourse in LF | Special features |
| HKS, an architecture firm based in Dallas | Designed by |
| $1.2 billion | Cost to build |
| 329′-372′-407′-374′-326′ By the way, the distance to the backstop from home plate is the shortest in the Majors, at 42′ | Outfield dimensions |
| This is the first, obviously | World Series hosted |
| The last time the Rangers made the Fall Classic was in 2011, when they lost a 7-game heartbreaker to the Cards. The Dodgers played in the 2017 and 2018 World Series (lost both), and the Rays’ only trip was in 2008 (lost) | Last World Series won by home team |
| Considering there hasn’t been a All Star Game since the park opened, there have been none — and there won’t be one soon, as the Braves and Dodgers get to host the ASGs in 2021 and 2022. Interestingly, the Rays are the only current MLB team never to host a mid-summer classic. Says a lot about their current home, Tropicana Field | All Star Games hosted |
| The Dallas Cowboy’s AT&T Stadium is just to the west. The Texas Live! entertainment district is adjacent on the north side. Globe Life Park still stands across the street | Landmarks |
| There’s a long list of concerts and events that were supposed to happen here, but were canceled due to COVID-19. The National Finals Rodeo will be held here in December, by the way | Other events |
| Small sample size (only one shortened season), but the park yielded 14.3% fewer HRs than the MLB average in 2020, which trailed 21 other ballparks — one ahead of Tropicana Field and 13 spots behind Dodger Stadium. However most regular season games in Arlington were played with the roof closed (which inhibited how the ball carried), and the Rangers were woeful in the power department. Balls have been flying out of the park in the postseason, though, while the roof has been open | 2020 park factors Source: ESPN |
| The NLCS held at Globe Life Field had crowds that seemed to be about one-third Braves fans, one-third Dodgers fans and one-third neutral onlookers, many from the DFW area (since Rangers season-ticket holders were given first shot at purchasing tickets) | Filled with |
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Inside |