Baseball stadiums come and go with regularity as of late. In small and big markets alike, teams are scrambling to build more suites and have the most up-to-date technology.
A perfect example of this is last year’s New York Yankees and this year’s Minnesota Twins. The Yankees were able to come away with yet another World Series title in the grand opening of the new Yankee Stadium and the Twins are off to a strong start in their new outdoor Target Field.
This sparked my and my content manager’s interest and got us wondering which teams have had the most success in their first season in a new stadium.
The rules are simple, in the first season in which your team plays, which teams went the furthest or won the most regular season games.
While researching, an interesting team and stadium came up, the 1994 Cleveland Indians. The Indians opened what was then called Jacobs Field in 1994, but no playoffs were held that season due to the strike. The league got started up again the following season and the Indians made it to the World Series, eventually losing to the Atlanta Braves in six games. I decided not to include the Indians due to them opening the stadium in 1994, but in their first season in which the playoffs were held they did have a better season than some on this list.
The decisions were difficult and there have definitely been some legendary ballparks with some great first seasons, take a look and see if your team’s inaugural year made the list.