Dolphins Stadium

This is another stadium I have attended one game. This place is a dump and unless I’m in Miami for some other reason, I won’t be back to see a game at this facility. This is not meant to be insulting to the Marlins. They’re playing in Dolphins Stadium – a football stadium that happens to accommodate a baseball field. Fortunately the team is getting a new baseball only park. I’ll be down to see that when it opens. One positive note about the park, the food was pretty good. I had chicken empanadas that were very tasty. Later I had trouble keeping them down as the Manatees dance troupe performed on the field. The Manatees are Marlins management’s idea of how to attract fans since they’re not spending any money on getting good pitching. It’s a group of fat guys in uncoordinated uniforms dancing with even less coordination. Let’s hope they don’t transition to the new park.


As you walk into the park, nothing about the structure says baseball. Having an inflatable giant baseball player near one entrance made it look like a car dealership. There were a ton of empty seats for the game I saw. What’s wrong with that? It was opening day! I was attending with John, CJ, BoCJ, and Grace in what remains of the live attendees of the BRBL draft. The Marlins were playing the Nationals. While the Marlins had finished above .500 the previous year, they did not seriously contend for a playoff spot. This season they’re flirting with a spot but will likely fall short again. The Marlins had Hanley Ramirez, Jorge Cantu, and Dan Uggla. The Nationals had lost 102 games the previous year and manager Manny Acta was excited about the prospects this season would bring with Nick Johnson (who would be a Marlin by the end of the season), Adam Dunn, Austin Kearns, and Ryan Zimmerman. This game belonged to the Marlins in every sense of the word. Florida had four home runs including a Ramirez grand slam and rookie Emilio Bonafacio’s inside the park home run. The Marlins demonstrated to the league that if you want to look like an All Star team, play the Nats.