After a first round ending with plenty of ties or one-vote margins, we’re moved on to the Sweet Sixteen round of the 2023 MiLB Single-A Best of the Ballparks fan vote.
We saw plenty of close votes in the opening Single-A voting round. First off, there was a tie between Hammond Stadium (Fort Myers Mighty Mussels) and Carilion Clinic Field at Salem Memorial Ballpark (Salem Red Sox); the tiebreaker for us is that the higher seed advances–in this case, Hammond Stadium. We saw Segra Stadium (Fayetteville Woodpeckers) prevail by a single vote over Bank of the James Stadium (Lynchburg Hellcats), as well as Clover Park (St. Lucie Mets) prevailing by a single vote over Loanmart Field (Rancho Cucamonga Quakes). We saw almost all of the Cal League–save defending champ The Diamond, home of the Lake Elsinore Storm–go down to defeat. There was only one major upset, with #22 seed Five County Stadium (Carolina Mudcats) defeating #11 seed Chukchansi Park (Fresno Grizzlies). For those scoring at home, the current 16-ballpark field features eight Carolina League ballparks, seven Florida State League ballparks and one Cal League ballpark.
This is by far the most eclectic level of ballparks in Minor League Baseball; besides the many facilities designed for Single-A play, it also includes a variety of spring-training venues as well as former Triple-A and Double-A facilities. Because the choices are all over the map, the vote can be a little unpredictable, to say the least.
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 Single-A ballparks. This was an extremely difficult list to seed: 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 The Diamond, home of the Lake Elsinore Storm and last year’s champion, followed by 2022’s runner-up, Atrium Health Ballpark (Kannapolis Cannon Ballers). 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 a very 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, June 5-June 17
- Single-A, May 31-June 20
- Summer Collegiate, June 13-June 25
- MLB Summer Collegiate, June 4-June 21
