Text and photos by Joe Mock
All rights reserved
The two teams facing each other in the 2019 World Series don’t appear to have much in common. The Washington Nationals have never — in the history of the franchise — appeared in the Fall Classic. In fact, a World Series game hasn’t been played in the Nation’s Capital since 1933.
The Houston Astros, meanwhile, have gotten comfortable near the top of the MLB heap. They’ve been in the playoffs four of the past five years, winning it all in 2017, the year Hurricane Harvey devastated southeast Texas.
That means that Minute Maid Park has been a frequent host of postseason baseball in recent years. However, the only time a World Series champ was crowned here occurred on October 26, 2005, when the White Sox completed their sweep of the Astros in that year’s Fall Classic. When Houston won its only title in 2017, they captured Game 7 at Dodger Stadium.
Game 5 of the 2017 Series was played in Houston, and it was a contest for the ages. The Astros twice overcame three-run deficits, winning the game 13-12 in 10 innings. It was the highest scoring Fall Classic game in two decades, and it positioned the ‘Stros to win it all three days later in Chavez Ravine.
Nationals Park, on the other hand, had never seen a World Series game coming into 2019. In fact, the lovely, stately stadium had never hosted the NLCS until this year, when the Nats upended the Cardinals in a decisive four-game sweep.
And here’s a rarity for you: this year’s WS combatants actually share a spring-training complex in West Palm Beach.
So the Astros, with arguably the most talented roster in the Big Leagues, are taking on the hottest squad in the sport, as the Nats have won eight of their ten postseason games — plus they won all of their last eight regular-season contests. Yes, that’s 16 of their last 18! Should be a classic Fall Classic!
As we’ve been doing every autumn since 2003, here’s our look at the “tale of the tape” of the two parks in this year’s World Series. As always, it’s a little tongue-in-cheek!
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Inside |  |
Minute Maid Park |
Nationals Park |
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| Most Houstonians would like to forget that the park was called Enron Field when it opened in 2000 | Year opened | Its first game was March 30, 2008, when Ryan Zimmerman (still a Nat, shown circling the bases above) hit a walk-off HR |
| For years, the park’s neighborhood in downtown Houston remained grim. Eventually hotels and eateries moved in | Site | The spot was controversial, in that it was built in a fairly blighted area near the Anacostia River in SE DC. Like in Houston, commercial development followed |
| Never been a fan of its aesthetics, so it ranks 24th in our MLB rankings | Our ranking among 30 MLB parks | Nothing spectacular about it, but nothing much wrong either: 16th |
| 41,168. The Astros finished 9th in MLB in attendance, averaging 35,276 in 2019 | Seating capacity | 41,339. 2019 attendance averaged 27,899 (16th), down from 2018’s 31,775. |
| Natural grass (Platinum TE Paspalum) | Playing surface | Natural grass (Kentucky bluegrass) |
| A real locomotive runs on tracks high above left field. There is gas pump that keeps track of HRs. Thankfully, the in-play hill in deep CF was removed in 2016. | Special features | A Ring of Honor (celebrating players from the Senators, Negro Leagues, Expos and Nats) arrived in 2010. The 4th inning Racing Presidents is pretty cool. |
| Populous (then called HOK) and Molina | Designed by | Populous (then called HOK) and Devrouax & Purnell |
| $250 million | Cost to build | $693 million, which is just a pittance compared to the piles of money spent by certain DC folks |
| 315′-362′-409′-373′-326′ The Crawford Boxes in LF yield some cheap HRs | Outfield dimensions | 337′-377′-402′-370′-335′ |
| This is the third, with a loss to the White Sox in 2005 and a title in 2017 | World Series hosted | This is the first. The Fall Classic hasn’t been in DC since 1933 in Griffith Stadium. Yes, that qualifies as a drought |
| The Astros’ only World Series title was in 2017 | Last World Series won by home team | The Nationals and their predecessors the Expos had never appeared in a WS, much less won one |
| With Astros pitcher Roger Clemens taking the loss, the AL beat the NL 9-4 in 2004 | All Star Games hosted | The AL outslugged the NL 8-6 in the 2018 ASG |
| Beautiful Union Station, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, anchors the west corner of the ballpark | Landmarks | Although it’s become harder in recent years, you can see the US Capitol from some seats in the upper deck |
| Concerts from headliners like Paul McCartney and Taylor Swift have been held here. | Other events | Aside from lots of concerts, Pope Benedict XVI celebrated mass here in 2008, and the NHL Winter Classic was played January 1, 2015 |
| The Astros’ home yields fewer doubles and triples than average, but 8.3% more runs (7th in MLB in 2019) and 19.5% more HRs (6th) | 2019 park factors Source: ESPN |
Although it doesn’t carry a reputation for it, this is a hitter’s park. 10.1% more runs than average were scored per game here in ’19 (4th in MLB) and 26.7% more HRs than average (2nd) |
| Fans who can make this stadium a deafening place, especially when the roof is closed. Who would’ve thought a city in Texas could become such a baseball town? | Filled with | Fans who are loud and have fallen in love with Gerardo Parra’s Baby Shark walk-up, but with no sellout in NLDS Game 4, you can’t call them the best fans in the sport |
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Outside |   |