I was down in Washington, D.C. this week on business, and with the evening free Tuesday night I decided to head down to Nationals Park to see the Nats play the Rockies. Figured, I could get a $15 ticket, the place was right by my hotel, and I wanted to check one more ballpark off my to-visit list.
The verdict: good, but not great. It's got all the benefits of the modern ballpark, but didn't really feature any one thing that made it unique, with the exception of the creepy-but-cool President's Race. The park's also not in an especially great area, and it doesn't look like any of the promised "economic development" in the area has materialized as of yet.
As usual, the place was about half-full, so I was able to pretty much sit wherever I wanted, choosing a few different sections to sit in for an inning or two at a time. I suppose the perpetual lack of attendance was a combination of the team sucking for the last five years, Washington being a city of transients, and the total lack of lifelong Nationals fans.
However, I can see the team becoming good (when Stephen Strasburg arrives) and the place becoming more of a hub sometime in the near future. Indeed, Strasburg jerseys were among the most prominent in the stadium, despite the pitcher not even being on the team yet, although I saw more Ovechkin shirts than that of any Nats player.
The verdict? About in the middle of the pack of MLB stadiums. But no worse than the third-best in the NL East.