Last visit: May 20, 2024
Early in its existence when it was known as Jacob’s Field, you couldn’t get a ticket. Cleveland’s baseball team, then (and some would say, forever) known as the “Indians”, sold out 455 straight games from 1995 to 2001. A pent-up fan base celebrated the team’s escape from The Mistake on Lake by cheering on those successful teams in droves.
It was the first park to follow the revolutionary Camden Yards. It didn’t get the same fanfare as Camden, in part because most people don’t remember Number 2, but also because it lacked a truly crowning feature like so many of the newer stadiums. The view of the skyline was nice but didn’t have a defining building. The large left field wall wasn’t oversized enough to be “the thing”. And the light standards, constructed vertically as an homage to the old Cleveland smokestacks, while brilliant, are perhaps too subtle to define a park.
That aside, Progressive Field is a quality venue that’s been made better with some nice renovations that included a huge boost in the amenities. There are some flaws that came with the initial design that can’t be fixed which drag the score down a bit. And since crowds have tapered off since those early years, the excitement isn’t as strong here as it is in other parks. And so it sits in the middle of the pack of ballparks ratings. But don’t let that detract you from putting this place on a “to see” list. It’s inexcusable for stadium junkies to miss given you can get to nearly half the stadiums in baseball within an easy day’s drive (Pittsburgh 2 hrs, Detroit 2.5 hrs, Cincinnati 3.5 hrs, Toronto 4.5 hrs, Chicago 5 hrs, Baltimore 5.5 hrs, Washington 6 hrs, Milwaukee 6.5 hrs, Philadelphia 6.5 hrs, New York 7 hrs).
STADIUM 38/50
Exterior aesthetics 8/10; Interior & Concourse Aesthetics 6/10; Sightlines 2/5; Seating 3/5; Traffic flow 4/5; Scoreboard 10/10; Amenities & entertainment 5/5; Bars & Restaurants 5/5; Celebrating history 5/5; Grand entrance 4/5; Sense of place 17/25; WOW Factor 7/10. Total 76 points divided by 2 for 38
While the stadium does suffer a little from “generic stadium” on the inside, lumping it in as “another retro park” is a little unfair. It’s a really good stadium with a couple of serious flaws.
THE GOOD:
- The exterior is a nod to Cleveland’s industrial heritage. The white exposed steel reflects the city’s blue-collar ethos and conjures up the many city bridges. The beige brick and limestone that make up the rest of the exterior doesn’t work as well for me, but keeps with the color scheme seen most in the area.
- Despite having a right field stand that wraps well into center, and a huge scoreboard in left, the park still feels open. You know you’re in a city, even if identifying which one may be a little trickier.
- The scoreboard is one of the largest in baseball, allowing it to tell the game story as well as any. It truly is humungous. For parks that allow the city into the stadium, I struggle to see why anything larger would be better. Only in enclosed or suburban stadiums could a larger scoreboard possibly make any sense.
- The batter’s eye is made up of attractive shrubbery rather than a boring dark green wall
- The centerfield greeting area is quite nice with the various statues of past greats welcoming you as you get ready to enter
- Inside the park, there’s a nice monument to the team’s past greats (Heritage Park) tucked away in centerfield. And there’s a Bob Feller exhibit on the Terrace level. They do a pretty good job honoring the team’s long past.
- The club was one of the first to embrace the “social area” (i.e. a general admission area with more non-baseball amenities to entertain those needing more than a ballgame to amuse themselves. The lower right field social area has great concessions and drink rails, if you can snag one, with views of the field. The renovated outfield upper decks are much nicer now. Gone are those ugly shipping containers that used to dot right field. They have been replaced with nice-looking standing room areas with table tops, bar games, and other things for those more interested in hanging with their friends rather than watching the game. They did the same in left, albeit in foul territory. So while seating capacity is light, there are many places to hang.
- There’s a fairly extensive kid’s area in right field. When they open it (I’ve seen it shuttered a few times during weekday games when school is still in), it’s among the better such areas in baseball even with the extensive waivers that you need to sign. There are a few other baseball-oriented entertainment spots throughout the park as well.
- The Guardians are one of the few teams to have concessions on both the exterior and interior concourse in the lower bowl. If your concession of choice is available on one of the interior stands, it minimizes time away from the action.
- They replaced the infield lower bowl seats with new ones, many with cushions. This was needed since there seemed to be a disproportionate number of broken seats before.
- While I find the seats to be overpriced, I was impressed with the lounge area in the (horribly named) Discount Drug Club.
THE BAD:
- SERIOUS FLAW: There simply aren’t that many good seats in the stadium. The lower infield area is less than 30 rows high and if you’re not there, you could have an issue. Outfield seats tend to not be angled toward the plate forcing a 9-inning neck turn which gets more pronounced the higher you go. The club level is overpriced given they’re all-inclusive seats (something I eschew at the ballpark). And the upper deck is far from the field in large part due to THREE rows of luxury suites.
- Because the stadium has way too many suites for the market, a lot of prime real estate sits empty during games. They’ve converted a few suites into clubs and such, but it still feels like a dead zone that only serves to jack you higher if you’re in the upper deck.
- From the lower level, you can’t really go all the way around and see the game. The seat-side concessions help alleviate that somewhat, but structurally the concessions are separated from the field.
- There are ongoing renovations in 2024, meaning parts of the park are under construction. While the team has done a decent enough job to hide things behind team banners, it’s still weird to feel that you’re in an unfinished stadium.
There’s a lot of good, but that one serious flaw is a doozy.
FOOD 9/10
Here’s where the park renovations have made a huge difference. Gone are the days where the best concession in the park was the brown Bertrand’s mustard that accompanies a Sugardale hot dog ———– though in fairness, that mustard alone (which has been part of the Cleveland stadium scene for over 90 years) still qualifies the Progressive Field hot dog as one of the better dogs in baseball.
Now the place is packed with local gems offering a variety of ballpark-appropriate vittles. It’s truly a bounty of riches:
- Three different restaurants, Barrio, Ohio City Burrito and Momocho, make Cleveland maybe the best park for Mexican food. (The Momocho nachos were once rated the best food in the Big Leagues by USA Today.)
- Dante’s Inferno offers “craft pizza”
- You can get all sorts of unique burgers from Dynomite
- Happy Dog sells some wacky “gourmet hot dogs” including The Slider Dog which comes with Froot Loops for some reason (hopefully it’s named after the colorful mascot and not the food’s exit strategy)
My personal fave of the bunch is a killer grilled cheese sandwich from Melt. The Parmageddon, loaded with pierogies, just rocked my world but wasn’t there in recent years. That said, the Chirizo and Potato is pretty damn good as well.
BEER 8/10
Here’s another area where Cleveland went from unnoteworthy to among the best in baseball.
The focus is decidedly Midwest. Local outpost Fathead Brewery sells their full range Another local brewer, Market Garden, has a few as well including their Citramax IPA. And Brew Kettle has an impressive tap list in the club level and a few options down low.
In addition, you can get regional craft brews from Bell’s, Rhinegeist, Ace, and Founders, plus some nationally-acclaimed choices as well.
If macro is your thing, on select days, you can get a 12-oz can of Miller Lite super cheap before the game.
The only bummer is with all this new stuff, they closed the “Your Dad’s Beers” stand which used to feature stalwarts like Gennesee, Hamm’s, PBR, Stroh’s and even Blatz. It was gimmicky but fun.
NEIGHBORHOOD 6/10
Northeast Ohio’s population continues to decline, and downtown Cleveland isn’t necessarily as hopping as other cities’ downtowns, but the area around the ballpark is quite active. Progressive Field and the basketball arena are side by side, allowing a good little sports bar/taphouse & grill scene to develop north of the ballpark. National chains like Wahlburgers and Hofbrauhaus are interspersed with local eateries and bars
I struggled a little with this score. It seems as if 7 of my last 10 games at the stadium have either been day games or Mondays, and it’s much harder to judge the buzz of a neighborhood if you’re pre-gaming at 11:00 a.m. (a lot of the better places are still closed, or still quiet). But the night games, especially the Friday and Saturday nighters, allow this area to shine. You may be pleasantly surprised.
COST 4/5
Tickets are about league average for similar seats, maybe a little less. Concessions are fairly standard. Parking becomes reasonable once you go a few blocks into downtown. In all, it costs slightly below average by MLB standards.
ACCESSIBILITY 4/5
Easy to get to by car as several interstates converge around the area. Traffic is usually manageable. There are free downtown trolleys that may be helpful if you’re staying too many blocks away to travel afoot. Light rail is available including the red line which gets you close to the park from the airport. It’s one of the easier urban parks to get to.
WEATHER 1/5
Cleveland weather is some of the worst in baseball. Often terrible early season and oppressively muggy in the dog days. Rain is a common threat: Cleveland gets some sort of rain 30% of days during baseball season.
VIBE 15/25
Some may protest that this is low. But the reality is, Cleveland is a football town.
After the initial new ballpark honeymoon phase, fans stayed away once the team struggled, and stayed away even after they became really good again. I understand lower attendance in a place like Pittsburgh, but it spiked when the Pirates were competitive. The Guardians really didn’t get that boost. Even the year after their 2016 World Series appearance, attendance only got to 25,000 a game.
Those who are there are usually pretty hardcore and into the game. The exceptions are the social areas which usually have a more “party vibe” (my guess is many in attendance have no idea of the score).
The 8th inning “Ohio rendition” sing-along to Hang On Sloopy is pretty cool. In-game entertainment is solid but standard. The Sugardale hot dog race is a poor man’s Sausage race. My beef: in a race between ketchup, mustard and onions, mustard should be nearly undefeated!
Finally, we lose a little with the 2023 passing of superfan John Adams. His banging drum from the left field bleachers has been part of the Cleveland soundtrack for my entire life. RIP.
GALLERY
OTHER FUN THINGS TO DO
Three fun Cleveland eateries:
- Butcher and the Brewer (Downtown. As the name implies, good meats and good in-house brews. Right across from Mabel’s BBQ.)
- West Side Market (Ohio City. Classic market with quite a few places offering ready-to-eat goodies including Crepes de Luxe offering savory and sweet delights.)
- Banter (Gordon Square. It bills itself as a “Canadian restaurant”, and has good poutine, but the real star is one of the best Polish Boy sandwiches in town.)
Three places to imbibe before the game:
- City Tap (Ballpark. My fave of the close-to-the-park bars. 50 beer on tap.)
- The Clevelander (Ballpark. Not to be confused with the South Beach club, this slightly upscale sports bar can get pretty hopping pre and post-game.)
- Masthead Brewing (Downtown brewery in an historic building about a half mile from the park.)
One bar in the area worth hitting:
Do an Ohio City pub crawl. Highlights include Market Garden Brewery, Hansa Brewery and Nano Brew. Walk a little further and get Bookhouse and (my favorite of the bunch) Saucy Brew Works.
Three craft breweries in the area worthy of your time:
- Great Lakes Brewery (Ohio City. Very midwestern old timey space serving their suds and decent food. It’s across from West Side Market so you can add it to your Ohio City pub tour. Shuttle service available to most Guardians games for $1 for patrons.)
- Noble Beast Brewing Co (Downtown. Funky space, good food, and good brews one mile north of the park toward the lake.)
- Terrestrial Brewing Company (Battery Park. Industrial space, interesting brews, and a fantastic patio with views of Lake Erie. Parking can be tricky.)
Three fun tourist attractions in the area:
- Rock N Roll Hall of Fame (Downtown. Probably my favorite American museum.)
- Cedar Point (Sandusky. The world’s best roller coaster amusement park with 17 coasters just 1 hour west.)
- Pro Football Hall of Fame (Canton. The second-best sports HOF in America, less than 1 hour south)
SUMMARY
Progressive Field does many things well. The scoreboard is gigantic; the food and beer are among the best in baseball; the social areas are game-changing; the team history is nicely honored; and it’s easy to get to. Alas, its abundance of empty suites, disappointing attendance and limited supply of good seats pushes this down a few points. It may take you a little bit to get used to calling the home team the “Guardians”, but it won’t take you long to feel at home here. It’s really as good as all but a handful of stadiums, and when combined with a couple of the other fantastic attractions in Northern Ohio, would be an enjoyable stop on any ballpark tour.
