Rogers Centre

Toronto Blue Jays (American League)

6/10

There really isn't a main entrance to the dome, they all kind of look like this.

Roof is closed for a September matchup against the Cubs.

Roof is very much open for this contest in 2007 against the Nationals.

 This is the place I saw my very first Major League game in 1995. We were out visiting family in Ontario, when for my birthday, I got tickets to go down to Toronto to watch the Blue Jays play the Boston Red Sox. The pitching matchup was still one of the best I've seen, Roger Clemens for the Sox and Juan Guzman for Toronto. John Olerud stole home, I got my first glimpse of Shawn Green, who I hadn't heard of at that point and we left early to catch the last train out of town as the Jays won in extras 2-1. I went back in 2007 after a trip to some parks was aborted at the last second and took in 2 games against the Nationals. In 2014, I went back for my 4th game here, against the Cubs.

The Blue Jays are my favourite team and on the old website, I gave this place I think a 7/10 on my old site, but have lowered the rating to a 6. Why? The different system places more emphasis on areas where this place is behind the rest.

The stadium itself is a very staid, concrete dome. The concourse is like most others you'd see in the Majors, but the exterior lacks much character, other than some statues on the one side. The stadium is close to the lakeshore, right in the middle of downtown Toronto, making it easy to access via subway and GO Train(for regional commuters). Sadly, this is a dome. A roof of some kind is all but mandatory in a colder climate like Toronto, but this one completely encloses the stadium when closed, making it, in my opinion, even worse than Tropicana Field when closed, as that roof at least lets some light in. This stadium does hold some sentiment with me as Canada's de facto national baseball stadium, but it's at least in the bottom 3 in terms of visual appeal. When it opened, it was the class of the league, as it was the first retractable roofed stadium to actually work properly. Now, its a little behind the times and I don't imagine it will be long before the calls to replace it begin. Still, 2016 will mark the first year without CFL football at the dome, which will mean natural grass rather than turf, which should improve the look of the park somewhat.

The other big knock on this place are the concessions. It's partially just the exchange rate, but they're expensive. I.e., 5.25 CDN for a bottle of Coke Zero that costs 2.25 at the corner store across the road. My stepbrother, a temporary Torontonian, took me and a friend who came up from London(the one in Canada) to a Vietnamese-style sub place before the game. A good call, as for 13 or 14 bucks we got what would have cost around 20-25 inside. I've seen Coke Zero as much at some NHL venues in Canada, but not in the US, even with the exchange. I still couldn't get over how expensive food was, I hardly even looked after an initial survey and don't remember any prices.

The plus is the atmosphere, which after some lean years, is picking up, especially with the Jays making their first playoff run in a generation. The game we went to, I sat in the 500 level(upper deck) for the first time. View was not too bad. There were a few die hard, some randoms, and a school trip from Brazil of some kind, which tried to bring their sort of cheering into the mix. Fans are somewhat passionate about the Jays, as they have the whole of Canada to tap into, but locals are getting more interested in recent years, as the Jays success is the opposite of most Toronto franchises.

Overall, this is an adequate stadium which should be improved by natural grass, but a lack of visual appeal combined with expensive concessions will keep it in the bottom 5 of all but the most contrarian fan's list. 6/10.

Update 2021: Despite this being my team, I haven't been back here, I prefer to watch them on the road. They did install a dirt infield in 2016, instead of the previous dirt on turf. My experiences elsewhere since my last visit just continue to show how out of date the dome now is. There have been rumblings of a replacement facility, but that's all they've really been. Any replacement will be on the lakeshore within a few kilometres from here, but I can't see that happening until the back end of this decade at least. I added the linescores, it turns out the 1st game I saw here was actually in 1995, a year earlier than I'd thought. No idea when I'll be back to Toronto.

Linescores

1996-06-12

                   123   456   789   10  11 12  R H E

Boston       002   001    000   0    0   0    3 8 0   

Toronto      000   021   000    0   0   1     4 11 0

Temp: 20C  Time: 3:47   Att: 40,171

Note: My First MLB game ever, Aged 12.

2007-06-16

                      123   456   789  R H E

Washington  010   100   010   3 7 1

Toronto         104  200   00x  7 10 0

Temp: 27C  Time: 2:32  Att: 26,342

2007-06-17

                      123   456   789  RHE

Washington    020  110    000  470

Toronto           101  000   000  240

Temp: 26C Time: 2:14  Att: 28,867

2014-09-10

                        123   456   789  R H E

Chicago(NL)   000  000   100  1  5  3  

Toronto            001 003   52X  11 13 1

Temp: 20C  Time: 3:12  Att: 19,411