San Diego has every right to be proud of this stadium. Definitely top-tier among MLB parks…read more
Background
Attended a Saturday evening game in early May. Great weather (because, San Diego), partly cloudy skies, temperature in the mid-60's. We had lower-tier seats on third-base line, just a handful of rows up from the dugout, Chicago White Sox were in town. Sadly, the Pale Sox pasted the Pad's 4-0.
Stadium
Petco truly checks all of the boxes of a great ballpark.
Downtown location - sure thing, the nearby Gaslamp District has numerous restaurants, bars and hotels to complement your visit.
Easy access - yes, including ample garage parking and nearby train service
Open air - of course
Excellent viewing lines throughout the stadium - yes
Seating close to the action - you bet
Avid fanbase - 42,000 attend virtually every game, so, yep
Outfield view - great, and I mean GREAT, view of the city skyline
Stadium lighting / sound - unfortunately, our game was pretty much a snooze fest so difficult to judge. I've seen videos of the crowd and stadium sound system roaring, and also of a great home run firework celebration. Sadly, we didn't get to experience any of this.
Anything iconic? - well, there's the Western Metal Supply Building which literally serves as the left-field foul pole. So, yeah!
It's difficult to find anything I'd improve. Cushioned seats would be nice, we've had those in a couple parks. Maybe....bring back The Chicken? The Friar doesn't exactly excite me.
So, is this THE best MLB park? Well....there's some tough competition for the #1 spot. Personal taste and sentiment inevitably come to play on this. For now, I'll simply keep to my comment, Petco is definitely among the very best parks to watch a ballgame.
Food
The foot-long franks were fine, not the best but certainly far from the worst. Overall, there's an abundance of food options. Japanese curry anyone? Kombucha? Pop pies (a local favorite, close cousin of a pot pie)?
Anything Unusual
The game started at 5:40 pm which is unusual for me. I enjoyed the earlier start, gave us extra time to enjoy a couple drinks at a local bar after the game.
Overall
Not much more I can say. Highly recommended!