After a Sweet Sixteen round jammed with upsets, the Double-A MiLB Best of the Ballparks fan vote moves on to the Elite Eight round for the Eastern, Texas and Southern leagues.
Out of the eight bracket challenges, lower seeds prevailed in four of them, as the #2, #3, #4 and #6 seeds were all upset, albeit by some very right margins, with #6 seed Whataburger Field eking out a win over a lower seed. Receiving the most votes in the Sweet Sixteen round: Riverfront Stadium (Wichita Wind Surge), Dunkin’ Park (Hartford Yard Goats), Delta Dental Stadium (New Hampshire Fisher Cats), Whataburger Field (Corpus Christi Hooks), FNB Field (Harrisburg Senators) and Smokies Stadium (Tennessee Smokies).
We know from marketing stats that a third of our readers work in the baseball industry, so we’re tapping into that collective expertise. And we know from our research that a third of our readers sell to the baseball industry, so that expertise will be valuable as well. The remaining third–fans, media, government–will certainly have a different view on things as well. We can’t wait to see what our readers–whom we consider to be the smartest folks in baseball–say about the best of the ballparks.
Here’s our ranking of Double-A ballparks. This was an extremely difficult list to seed: This is the top level of Minor League Baseball, and the quality of the facilities reflects that standing. Honestly, there’s not a lot of difference between most of the ballparks in this competition, and there are plenty of arguments for most of these ballparks deserving a higher rating. Results of last year’s vote also played a part in our seedings, as well as improvements entering this season. Occupying the top spot is Dunkin’ Park, home of the Hartford Yard Goats and last year’s champion, with Hodgetown (Amarillo Sod Poodles) the #2 seed as last year’s runner-up. We don’t expect the voting to follow our seedings: our readers can be independent. and they share a love of ballparks and the fan experience. This is by far the most difficult bracket to seed.
Some things to note. First, you are allowed to vote multiple times, but you can only vote once per day. Second, you don’t need to fill out a full slate: partially filled lineups will count. A running tally of the vote will be presented at the bottom of this page in the form of brackets. Vote below:
Here is the schedule for all the 2023 Best of the Ballparks fan votes:
- Grapefruit League, Completed (winner: Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium)
- Cactus League, Completed (winner: Camelback Ranch-Glendale)
- College Baseball, Completed (Larry H. Miller Field)
- MLB, Completed (winner: PNC Park)
- Triple-A, Completed (winner: Polar Park)
- Double-A, Now-May 27
- High-A, May 19-June 11
- MLB Partner Leagues, May 24-June 9
- Single-A, May 25-June 20
- Summer Collegiate, May 29-June 23
- MLB Summer Collegiate, June 4-June 21
