Prince George's Stadium - Chesapeake Baysox

Erie SeaWolves (DET) @ Chesapeake Baysox (BAL)

August 16, 2025

Baysox 10, SeaWolves 7

W: Juaron Watts-Brown
L: Kenny Serwa

S: Carter Rustad

HR: Justice Bigbie (ERI), Kevin McGonigle (ERI), Max Clark (ERI)

Attendance: 5,125
Time of Game: 2 hours, 38 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Bowie, MD
Opened: 1994
Capacity: 10,000
Level: Double A
League: Eastern

When the Potomac Nationals moved further south to Fredericksburg in 2021, the Bowie Baysox became the closest affiliated minor league club from where I live.  However, I had never been to a game at Prince George's Stadium in Bowie until last Saturday.  The team changed its geographic moniker from Bowie to Chesapeake this year, choosing to go with the name of the bay that sits about 20 miles to the east.  Bowie is a unique minor league location in that it is essentially a suburb of Washington, D.C., but also very close to a second big league city of the parent club Baltimore Orioles.

Bowie is a densely populated city, and Prince George's Stadium is in a very commercially developed neighborhood.  However, you wouldn't know either of those things were true while inside the confines of the stadium where the seats look out to a forested area beyond the outfield.  It is on the older end of stadiums I've visited the past two years, having opened in 1994.  The exterior of the park around the main gate doesn't particularly give off the appearance of a baseball stadium.  In fact, weirdly, the name of the stadium isn't even displayed there.  I have seen photos where this was not the case though, so perhaps they are in the process of renovating this part of the park.  They are definitely in the midst of constructing new team clubhouses and offices in a building down the third base line of the park.  There are absolutely no outfield seats or fan areas beyond the outfield walls, which is not uncommon for the minor leagues, but pretty rare for the upper levels.  The main seating area on the lower level is quite large.  It is bisected by a walkway and then the main concourse is at the top of those sections.  Most of the seats above this walkway are general admission bleacher sections, except for the few sections behind the plate.  Interestingly, the press box is at the top of the lower level rather than on the second level which contains suites and other premium seating areas.  I would think that makes this one of the closest press boxes to field level in the minors.  Two of the most distinct aspects of the park are located down the first base line:  a replica lighthouse and an active carousel amidst a kids' play area.  The field of play seems pretty hitter friendly with it being just 309 feet down each line, without a tall wall to compensate.  The fences do shoot out fairly quickly from there, but I could still imagine a lot of cheap homers down the lines each way.  It is a respectable 405' to dead center though.  A nice crowd took in this Saturday night game in which the Baysox took the field as the Bowie Pit Beef.

During my June trip to the Midwest, I saw a trio of top Detroit Tigers prospects playing for West Michigan.  In early July, infielder Kevin McGonigle, outfielder Max Clark and catcher/first baseman Josue Briceno were all promoted to AA Erie.  So I got to see all of them play again on this night at a level closer to the big leagues.  Due to graduations and his own ascension, McGonigle has become one of the top prospects in all of baseball.  Clark remains a consensus top 10 prospect in his own right.  Both of them showed why on this evening.  The only bummer is that Clark was once again relegated to designated hitter, so I'm still yet to see him play in the outfield in my three in person views.  Another interesting aspect of the SeaWolves lineup for this night was starting pitcher Kenny Serwa, who is a rare breed these days as a knuckleballer.  That uniqueness probably serves him well most of the time as most players are not used to seeing knuckleballs.  However, on this particular evening, it may have worked against him.  He was facing Chesapeake for the fourth time in just over a two month span.  Therefore, many of the Baysox hitters had faced him before and it showed.  They ambushed him early in the count in the first inning to the tune of five hits, including three doubles.  Enrique Bradfield Jr doubled on the first pitch Serwa threw in the bottom of the first and then Max Wagner knocked him in with a double of his own on pitch number two.  Pitch three resulted in a ground ball that was booted by the second baseman for an error.  It turned into a rather prolonged inning from there in which the Baysox sent 10 men to the plate and scored six runs.  Yet Serwa only threw 25 pitches in the frame and had a whole lot more to go after that.  On the other side, the starting pitcher for Chesapeake was Juaron Watts-Brown who the Orioles acquired from the Blue Jays in the Seranthony Dominguez trade a few weeks ago.  Watts-Brown was not exactly dominant either, but was effective enough after being staked to an early big lead.  After the six run bottom of the first, Justice Bigbie launched the first Watts-Brown pitch of the second inning into the trees beyond left field.  The Baysox got that run back with another one of their own in the bottom half with three more hits off of Serwa.  In the third, the SeaWolves used the long ball again to get themselves back into the game.  McGonigle crushed a first pitch fastball that appeared to bang off of the scoreboard in right-center for a two run homer to cut the Chesapeake lead to 7-3.  McGonigle had a large cheering section behind the Erie dugout, a fairly short trip for friends and family of his to make from his hometown in the Philadelphia area.  In the fifth inning, it was Clark's turn.  He soared one the opposite way that just snuck over the left field wall for a solo home run.  After Watts-Brown was replaced in the top of the sixth, Erie tacked on two more runs to cut the lead down to one.  Somehow, Serwa was still in the game for the SeaWolves in the bottom of the sixth when the Baysox started to knock him around again.  They picked up a pair of runs on four hits, highlighted by Wagner's second RBI double of the game.  Serwa's final line is one you just never see in minor league baseball these days:  6 IP, 14 H, 9 R, 7 ER, 1 BB, 1 K.  Only a knuckleballer would be allowed to put up a line like that.  Both teams would score one more run after the sixth to end it with a Baysox 10-7 victory.  While the SeaWolves stars shined, so did the top prospect in the Chesapeake lineup.  Bradfield Jr had a pair of hits, runs and stolen bases to help lead the Baysox to the win.

With this game in the books, I can now say I've been to a game in every affiliated minor league ballpark that is both east of Chicago and north of Washington, D.C.  I still have a visit to make to Indianapolis next month, but I already went to a game in that stadium last decade.  Next up this month are a couple games in Virginia:  Norfolk and Fredericksburg.

Photo Album

Next ballpark: Harbor Park in Norfolk, VA

Day Air Ballpark - Dayton Dragons

Great Lakes Loons (LAD) @ Dayton Dragons (CIN)

July 19, 2025

Loons 4, Dragons 1

W: Joel Ibarra
L: Adam Serwinowski

S: Christian Ruebeck

HR: Cameron Decker (GL), Connor Burns (DAY)

Attendance: 8,046
Time of Game: 2 hours, 37 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Dayton, OH
Opened: 2000
Capacity: 6,831
Level: High A
League: Midwest

When the game in Dayton was rained out during my June Midwest trip, I figured I probably would not return to see a game there until a future year.  I did go ahead and exchange my ticket for a game in mid-July to at least give myself the option of making another trip to Dayton this summer though.  The week leading up to that Saturday night game, I went back and forth on whether or not to make the fairly lengthy drive with a less than ideal weather forecast once again.  Ultimately, I decided to go for it, figuring even if the Saturday night game were to get rained out, I could stick around until Sunday and skip the stop in Pittsburgh I had planned to see a White Sox/Pirates game on my way home.  As it turned out, it started to pour just a matter of minutes after I arrived in Dayton.  Fortunately, this was several hours before scheduled first pitch and the rain did not last long.  They did delay the game about a half hour to give themselves more time to get the field ready.  It turned out to be a nearly perfect summer night for baseball.

The Dayton Dragons are perhaps best known for holding the North American professional sports record for most consecutive sellouts, a streak that began the day the franchise arrived in Dayton in 2000 and remains in tact today at over 1,600 consecutive games.  The caveat is that this excludes the 2021 season which had limited attendance due to pandemic restrictions.  This is a baseball loving city and it certainly helps being in close proximity to the parent club in Cincinnati as well.  Day Air Ballpark is a gem of a stadium located in the downtown area of the Gem City.  There are a plethora of bars and restaurants in the Water Street district where the ballpark is located, just a few blocks from where the Miami and Mad Rivers meet.  Like many of these other downtown minor league parks, there is a residential high rise looming over the park across the street from center field.  There is also an apartment building rising above the home plate area and an old brick warehouse building in left.  These all create a cozy environment despite it being a pretty good sized High A facility.  There are no regular seats in the outfield, but the concourse does encircle the entire park.  There are a couple party areas in left and center, plus lawn seating in right and down both baselines.  This allows them to accommodate far more fans most nights than the official seating capacity of about 6,800.  There is a legit second deck with a bunch of sets of stairs leading up to it from the concourse.  And then there is a suite level above that.  There is construction underway on the upper level to add another party deck in the future, it would appear.  One thing that the sellout streak affords the team is to not need to put together an extensive set of promotions.  I think they are the only minor league team I've checked out the past two years that doesn't have a published set of promotions on their website for every game.  Also, the in-stadium advertising is quite limited compared to most minor league (and MLB, for that matter) parks.  I think this might have been the first summer weekend night minor league game I've attended the past two years that didn't have postgame fireworks.  None of this is a complaint at all.  It's just noticeably different than what I've experienced elsewhere and almost certainly because they don't need any of that to fill the park.

This was my third time seeing the Dodgers Midwest League affiliate Great Lakes play this summer and second for the Reds' Dayton.  Both Dayton games have featured tall left handed pitcher with a funky delivery, Adam Serwinowski, starting on the mound for the Dragons.  He happened to get traded last week to the Dodgers as part of a three team trade in which the Reds acquired pitcher Zack Littell from Tampa Bay.  Serwinowski was added to the Great Lakes roster this past weekend and will presumably make his debut in the Dodgers organization in the next couple days, pitching for the team he faced on this particular night.  He was very good in this game for the first four innings before running into trouble in the fifth.  Great Lakes starter Payton Martin also pitched well, but must have been on a pitch count limit because he was pulled in the fourth inning having only allowed one run.  That run was a solo home run by nine hole hitter, catcher Connor Burns, who lofted one into the Dragons Lair party area just above the wall in left.  The Loons did not have a hit against Serwinowski until the fifth inning.  Two batters after a double by Wilman Diaz, leadoff man Kendall George tied the game with a base hit to left.  George would then steal second and third.  He and Josue De Paula came around to score on a big two run single by Logan Wagner.  That gave the Loons a 3-1 lead and knocked Serwinowski out of the game.  In the next inning, Loons first baseman Cameron Decker hit a solo home run to almost the exact same spot in left as the Burns dinger.  That was the fourth and final Great Lakes hit of the game.  All four led to the runs in the fifth and sixth innings, so they made them count.  It would also wind up being one more hit than the Dragons could muster in the game.  The Dragons did load the bases with one out in the bottom of the seventh, but a strikeout and a flyout extinguished the threat.  Dayton would not get another runner on base in the game, so they dropped this one by a final of 4-1.  With the victory, Great Lakes improved to 3-0 on the season in games I've attended, which should make them my 2025 minor league tour champion since no other team will have the opportunity to reach three wins without a loss.

FYI, the linked photo album below contains photos from both my June stop in Dayton before the rainout as well as this return trip in July.  I am now up-to-date with these minor league ballpark recaps.  At the moment, my next scheduled visit is a day trip to the other side of Washington, DC in Bowie, Maryland for a Chesapeake Baysox game a couple weeks from now.

Photo Album

Next ballpark: Prince George's Stadium in Bowie, MD

Canal Park - Akron RubberDucks

Harrisburg Senators (WAS) @ Akron RubberDucks (CLE)

June 28, 2025

RubberDucks 4, Senators 2

W: Dylan DeLucia
L: Dustin Saenz

S: Zane Morehouse

Attendance: 7,260
Time of Game: 2 hours, 46 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Akron, OH
Opened: 1997
Capacity: 7,630
Level: Double A
League: Eastern

The grand finale of my nearly two week trip was in Akron, Ohio.  This last drive between stops was the shortest of the trip, with it being just over 40 miles between Eastlake and Akron.  The Akron RubberDucks are the AA affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians, which meant I visited all of the three highest level Cleveland affiliates on this trip, all within a few hours of each other in the state of Ohio.  Canal Park was the first and only AA stadium I visited on this trip.  Akron is the westernmost franchise in the Eastern League, most others of which I visited a year ago.  It is not a dramatic geographic outlier in that league though, as Erie and the other Pennsylvania teams aren't too bad of a trek from Akron.

Canal Park opened in 1997 and has aged nicely, I would say.  It is yet another downtown ballpark, but is a bit more secluded from its surroundings than many of the other urban parks I have visited recently.  While some of the downtown skyline is visible from inside the park, the only structure in the immediate perimeter that looms over the park is a children's hospital down the third base line.  There are very few outfield seats in this park, with right field instead containing a tiki bar and adjacent terrace seating.  There is an indoor premium club area above the concourse in right field as well.  On the other side of the stadium is a large picnic area down the third base line.  Akron joins West Michigan as a rare minor league park where the bullpens are not in the field of play, but rather beyond the right field wall.  A vast majority of the regular seats in this ballpark are on the first base side.  That is also where the team store is located.  It is not a large store, however.  I think this is the first time I've had to wait in line to enter such a shop at a minor league park, and this was probably 45 minutes before first pitch.  There was a huge crowd on hand for this Saturday night game with postgame fireworks, about a week prior to Independence Day.  The RubberDucks took on the identity of the Galley Boys with special uniforms for this game, an ode to the burgers served at popular local chain: Swenson's Drive-In.  While I'm sure this promotion was a hit for the locals, it was a bit disappointing for me not to hear them referred to by their pretty cool regular nickname, RubberDucks, inspired by Akron's prominence in the tire industry.

In a rarity for any level besides AAA, the Harrisburg lineup featured a couple of players with extensive MLB experience:  rehabbing infielder Paul DeJong and outfielder Delino DeShields Jr, who signed a minor league deal with the Nationals in May mostly so he could play for his father, Harrisburg manager Delino DeShields Sr, who is a former MLB All-Star outfielder in his own right.  The senior DeShields got hit by a line drive foul ball in the first inning, but seemed to shake it off pretty quickly.  Junior had a rough game too, striking out all three times at bat.  Another Senator who had a tough evening was starting pitcher Tyler Stuart, who was visibly upset and in pain following a pitch he threw to the fifth batter he faced in the bottom of the first.  He was taken out of the game and has not pitched since.  I later read that it was a reoccurring elbow injury that also delayed his start to the season.  This injury happened one batter after Guy Lipscomb had a base hit to knock in the first run of the game.  Akron starting pitcher Dylan DeLucia had an excellent game.  He only allowed one run in six innings, and while it was officially credited as an earned run, it wasn't entirely his fault.  In the top of the third, a Harrisburg base runner moved into scoring position when a balk was called because the catcher tried to call timeout even though DeLucia had already used his two disengagements during the at bat.  Nats first round pick from a year ago, Seaver King, took advantage with a single to tie the game at one.  The RubberDucks immediately retook the lead in the bottom of the third.  Angel Genoa bounced one up the middle for a RBI single to make it 2-1.  From there, neither team did much of anything with the bats for the next few innings.  In the bottom of the seventh, Akron scored a pair of runs on an unfortunate play for the Senators.  Lipscomb hit a routine fly ball to left that should have ended the inning.  But left fielder Phillip Glasser lost the ball in the twilight sky and it landed 10 feet from him, ruled as a two run double.  The way this game was going for Harrisburg offensively, those two gift runs were going to be too much to overcome.  The Senators did score once in the top of the eighth, another somewhat generous run.  DeJong had a RBI sacrifice fly, scoring King who reached on an error, making this an unearned run.  Then during the next plate appearance, the Akron pitcher got called for a balk for a third unsuccessful pickoff attempt.  Not sure I've ever seen a team tagged with two balks for too many disengagements in the same game since that rule was implemented a couple years ago.  This one didn't wind up costing them though.  Without a couple of defensive mistakes, this could have been a shutout for the RubberDucks.  Instead, they would settle for a 4-2 victory.

And with that, this trip's home team losing streak came to an end.  It was also the first victory for a Cleveland affiliate on this journey, following three losses.  Canal Park was a really nice ballpark to conclude the trip with.  I spent one last night in Ohio before making the Sunday drive home.  In total, I saw 10 games in 12 days.  Really the only downer was missing the game in Dayton.  But I made up for that with a return trip to Ohio a few weeks ago.  So I'll be writing about that one soon too.

Photo Album

Next ballpark: Day Air Ballpark in Dayton, OH