For many years, Ballpark Digest has held an annual competition at each minor league baseball level, as well as the MLB level, for the best ballpark via online voting by the fans. This year, one of the Toronto Blue Jays’ minor league clubs was among the finalists for the award. After five vigorous, intense rounds of voting, Delta Dental Stadium, home of the Jays’ Double-A affiliate New Hampshire Fisher Cats, defeated Whataburger Field, home of the Houston Astros’ Double-A affiliate Corpus Christi Hooks, to take home the title for Ballpark Digest’s Double-A Best of the Ballparks in 2023.
For the competition, all participating ballparks were arbitrarily given an assigned seeding based on recommendations on years of attending games, how the ballparks carry out day-to-day functions behind the scenes, how they have impacted their communities, and their reputation in the industry. Not to forget, the fan experience in addition to the lovely views would likely be taken into consideration as well.
From there, the ballparks were placed into a bracket-style, head-to-head, single elimination online voting competition to determine the winner. Fans were allowed to vote multiple times, but could only do so once per day. In the end, over 54,000 fans participated over the course of the competition, so the ultimate winner was well-deserved.
Entering as the 20th seed and being the so-called “underdog” in the competition, Delta Dental Stadium was able to defeat 4th seeded Toyota Field and top seeded and reigning champion Dunkin’ Park, before finally taking down the 6th seed Whataburger Field in the finals for the crown.
Here are examples of some of the picturesque views of Delta Dental Stadium.
Delta Dental Park, Manchester, NH - Home of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats @HiltonHotels @HiltonGardenInn @FisherCats #newhampshirefishercats #fishercats #redsox #redsoxnation #stadium #ballparks#ballpark#groundhopping#groundhopper#groundhoppers#sportstravel pic.twitter.com/cSXougYCgQ
— Stadium Vagabond (@StadiumVagabond) May 3, 2022
It is the final hours to VOTE Delta Dental Stadium!
— New Hampshire Fisher Cats (@FisherCats) May 27, 2023
We are in the finals, EVERY VOTE MATTERS!https://t.co/hjeABbSwoT pic.twitter.com/mTDGQiofRG
Five rounds of voting saw Delta Dental Stadium win Ballpark Digest’s Double-A Best of the Ballparks vote, as the home of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats defeated Whataburger Field, home of the Corpus Christi Hooks. #MiLB #sportsbiz #baseballbiz https://t.co/fUOvkfATyy pic.twitter.com/L42ITA3lNT
— Ballpark Digest (@ballparkdigest) May 30, 2023
Here is a more in-depth virtual tour of the stadium to capture the various unique angles and views of the ballpark.
Stadium Creation: Northeast Delta Dental Stadium (New Hampshire Fisher Cats) Toronto Blue Jays AA #MLBTheShow21 #FerociousFun pic.twitter.com/4WZ8Kd1DE4
— Longball Luck (@LongballLuck) May 11, 2021
As one can see, it is truly a scenic, state-of-the-art, and at the same time, community-friendly facility for fans to enjoy their day along with a great game of baseball.
With Rogers Centre set to undergo further renovations in their next phase this coming year, hopefully when all is said and done, the home of the Toronto Blue Jays will be battling it out for one of MLB’s best ballparks in the near future. In the meantime, the diehard Jays’ fans definitely hope they can bring home another honour instead, which is a World Series championship for the first time in three decades.