Despite the reputation of Seattle’s climate as being cool and damp, the roof at Safeco Field, home of the Seattle Mariners, is open the most among covered ballparks in Major League Baseball, according to a local meteorologist.
The roof at Safeco Field was closed around 19 games a season (making for 23 percent of the games), according to numbers compiled by the Mariners’ Rebecca Hale and reported by Scott Sistak. That’s the least in MLB when it comes to covered facilities: In Phoenix, Miami and Houston, the roofs are closed much more often (more than half the time), while in Milwaukee the roof is closed a little less than half the time,
The only competitor to Seattle is Toronto, where the Blue Jays report the roof at Rogers Centre is closed around 25 percent of the time.
In a way, though, the comparison is really between red delicious apples and golden apples: the roofs are used for different reasons in different cities. In Seattle, the roof at Safeco Field is more akin to an umbrella: it will keep the rain out but it’s not used for climate control. In Phoenix, Miami and Houston, the roof is used for climate control — mostly as a way to keep in the air conditioning. In Milwaukee, the roof is used to keep in the warm air at the beginning of the season, as Miller Park lacks air conditioning.
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