So you have decided to heed the call to adventure. Good for you.
If you need to recall what the Guide is or who I am, please refer to the included links.
The Blight of Little Havana
The Guide has the following to say about going to a game at loanDepot Park:
…Did you just really subject any reader of this entry to a Scott Stapp song? You monster. How is loanDepot Park both too small and too big at the same time?!?
And yes, this ballpark is spelled with a lower-case letter l, but for our collective sanity here, I will either refer to it as “the ballpark” or capitalize it.
LoanDepot Park is a contradiction masquerading as a baseball stadium. It is simultaneously architecturally interesting and soulless. Although it is near the heart of a major American city, it is a nightmare to get to. As of 2025, LoanDepot is MLB’s third-newest ballpark, yet it feels dated and stale.
While I have had complicated feelings about LoanDepot in the past, I did my damndest to try and view this venue with as much objectivity as humanly possible.
It’s bad; there’s no sugarcoating this one.
To summarize, imagine everything bad about the experience of going to Dodger Stadium, Truist Park in Atlanta, Citi Field in Queens, and Globe Life Field in Arlington, and you have a fair approximation of what you are dealing with. Unlike the now-abandoned Oakland Coliseum in 2024, unless you are a Dodger fan marooned in Miami, there is no reason to visit this ballpark unless you are trying to visit every ballpark in the league.
Technically, the Guide could end here, but instead, we will break down why LoanDepot Park is such a lousy ballpark and experience, if you happen to stumble your way into attending a Dodgers/Marlins game in Miami.
The Five Questions of the Guide
1. Is it worth going here?
No — unless you are trying to visit all 30 current MLB ballparks.
loanDepot Park. July 5, 2021.
Michael Elizondo / True Blue LA
Now that we have identified LoanDepot Park as a subpar ballpark, we turn to the most obvious question: how?
If you are content watching a Dodgers/Marlins game on television, by all means, stay home. Miami lacks atmosphere and passionate fans, unlike Oakland. Visiting LoanDepot Park had all the energy of going to the airport, stuck in the lobby of an under-construction terminal while waiting for a flight that would never come, feeling trapped as if one were in the 2004 film The Terminal.
While there are value options for food, in both of my visits to LoanDepot Park, it was a challenge to find something to eat because the ballpark is so empty and spread out. Imagine the polar opposite of Dodger Stadium’s packed and crowded concourses and how similar an empty, dying mall that opposite would be.
There is nothing to do around the ballpark as it is in a residential neighborhood. This fact is not a negative per se. Much like Citi Field or Dodger Stadium, one had better be prepared to do a baseball game and eat at the ballpark, because one is out of luck otherwise.
Accordingly, you now have a good description of LoanDepot Park.
When LoanDepot Park opened, it was more interesting with its home run statue in centerfield, fish tanks behind home plate, and the stadium’s non-symmetrical design. One could argue that these features were garish, but at least the venue had a unique personality.
I wish I could have experienced that ballpark.
The ballpark I experienced has had all of its charm wiped away. In 2018, the statue was moved outside, behind the ballpark. The fish tanks were removed in 2021, and the stadium is a literal shell of its former self.
Until this year, this ballpark did not offer first-game certificates. All I got for my first visit in 2021 was a lousy button. That practice changed in 2025, which is good. However, one has to print it out themselves, which is bad and obnoxious considering the value of a major league franchise. That said, the teal in the certificate pops.
First Game Certificate. loanDepot Park.
Michael Elizondo / True Blue LA
Tours were only offered at LoanDepot Park on off days, a practice similar to the Anaheim Angels. That practice changed in 2025. Charging $40 for both children and adults is a skeevy practice in my opinion.
The Marlins also offer a VIP Tour that promises “selfies from field level and watching batting practice” for $125. That cost is inherently ridiculous for such a brief description. I recall paying slightly less than that amount for a VIP Tour of Target Field, which had both exemplary customer service and free gear from the team store due to inclement weather. I sincerely doubt I would have a similar experience in Miami due to the park’s lackadaisical nature.
2. How should I get there?
loanDepot Park from the air. September 17, 2024.
Michael Elizondo / True Blue LA
If you live in California, getting to Miami is straightforward: one flies to Magic City. Getting to Miami is not the problem with this ballpark. One of the critical faults of going to see the Dodgers in Miami is actually getting to the ballpark once you are in town.
The observant will likely see LoanDepot on the landing approach when arriving in Miami. As you can see from the aerial photo, LoanDepot Park is in the residential neighborhood of Little Havana, on the site of the old Orange Bowl. Unfortunately, public transit options to the ballpark are virtually non-existent, with bus service ending a literal mile from the ballpark.
A shuttle bus linked to the regional Brightline train service drops one off at the ballpark. The problem is that the service is for Brightline trains from around Florida, like Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, or Boca Raton. Accordingly, it is easier to get to LoanDepot Park if you are not actually staying in Miami, which is absolutely ridiculous.
Therefore, to get to the ballpark, you either have to rent a car, which I would not recommend due to traffic flow issues of having a stadium in a residential neighborhood, and the fact that you would have to prepay for parking. For these same reasons, and there is a severe lack of hotels near LoanDepot, walking to the ballpark is not an option.
Accordingly, unless one decides to stay in Orlando or elsewhere served by Brightline, one will likely have to endure congregating in the rideshare lot behind the stadium to get to and from LoanDepot Park.
3. Where should I stay?
One might be tempted to pick one of the two hotels near LoanDepot Park. Much like the Super8 by the Dodger Stadium, those are technically options, but considering the park is in a residential neighborhood, I cannot recommend them for various logistical reasons. Moreover, the hotels I would recommend are just too far away to walk to. Public transit options “reduce” the required distance to traverse to only one mile, one way.
The hotel options “near” loanDepot Park
Courtesy of Google Maps
If one resigns themselves to ridesharing or renting a car, there are plenty of hotel options in downtown or South Beach with a wide range of quality and cost. On my last visit, I stayed at the citizenM hotel across the street from the Kaseya Center, home of the Miami Heat. It was slightly cheaper than other options, had most of the features I would want in an accommodation, and was near a few restaurants and lounge options that I enjoyed.
The key factor to remember in the logistics of getting to a Dodger game in Miami is the humidity of South Florida. To the uninitiated, it can ruin trips due to the added mental and physical fatigue. Like Los Angeles, Miami is designed around the car, which is frustrating for an urbanist like me. With proper planning, the effects of humidity can be mitigated.
4. Where should I sit?
PNC Club Seats. loanDepot Park. September 18, 2024.
Michael Elizondo / True Blue LA
We have established that getting to and from LoanDepot Park is a significant hurdle, and the stadium’s atmosphere combines an airport terminal with a dilapidated mall. Most Guide entries suggest where to sit for value, etc.
The other issue that truly sours a Dodger game at LoanDepot Park is the park’s lighting. As a comparison, here is a random moment of footage I shot in 2021. It was a night game, so the lights were on, but the footage is clear and the light is not irritating.
Flash-forward to 2024. I realized something was wrong when I had a massive headache after the first game, which I initially blamed on Bobby Miller, and which returned during the middle game. Even with stadium lights behind me at the same general time of day, you can tell in the footage how much more physically oppressive the stadium’s lighting is now.
Once the lights turn on, LoanDepot Park’s atmosphere becomes physically uncomfortable. While this problem is common with domed stadiums, it is especially acute here. Apparently, the lighting system was “upgraded” in 2022 to be more dynamic and color-changing. Thanks, but no thanks; I like baseball without aggravating my light sensitivity.
If you suffer from any light sensitivity, please take adequate precautions before going to LoanDepot Park; otherwise, you risk headaches like the one I suffered while there.
As the Marlins have generally been a bad baseball organization with flashes of almost accidental championships, tickets, even inflated on the secondary market, can be had for a figurative song. This one factor is enough to keep LoanDepot Park from the bottom rank of the Guide.
Unless one lives in Miami or Florida, there is no reason to sit in the outfield unless one traveled across the country to just socialize at a baseball stadium, as there are party decks in the outfield or chase after a historical record. I speak from experience as a first-hand witness to Shohei Ohtani creating the 50/50 club with aplomb on his perfect day.
Another fact one might not know is that the upper deck, 300-series of seats, is typically sealed off for Marlins games due to poor attendance. If we eliminate the outfield and these upper deck seats accordingly, there is a circle of options for where one should sit if one wants to go through the effort of going to a game at LoanDepot Park.
Sit in the circle for the best results at LoanDepot Park.
Courtesy of the Miami Marlins / Illustration done by Michael Elizondo / True Blue LA
Any seat inside this circle will suffice as a decent spot if one goes to see a Dodger game at LoanDepot Park. The seats in section 200 are cheaper, and the views are fine. In 2024, I paid about $40 out the door for the following view.
Section 209. Row 2. Seat 26. loanDepot Park. September 17, 2024.
Michael Elizondo / True Blue LA
As you can see, the ballpark is mostly empty. No one is sitting on the upper deck, and the middle deck is mostly empty, but the view of the game is nice.
Inside the PNC Club. loanDepot Park. September 18, 2024.
Michael Elizondo / True Blue LA
Typically, one has to pay exorbitant costs to sit behind home plate at an MLB stadium. I managed to pay about $300 to sit in the PNC Club behind home plate at LoanDepot Park. Food and most drinks, even some alcohol, are included with the ticket. One can use the MLB Ballpark app to order food delivered to one’s seat while in this section, including section exclusives that sound better on paper. My main criticism of this section is that the spacing between rows is too snug, so all but the thinnest and smallest people will have to get up to let someone by.
If one wants to sit in the 100-seat section and try to hybridize the value of food delivery with a great view of the game, that would be the simplest recommendation I could give.
5. After your trip, is it worth going back?
Behind home plate. loanDepot Park. September 18, 2024.
Michael Elizondo / True Blue LA
In the disclaimer to the Guide, I described the informal range of subjective outcomes after visiting a location. So far, I have been to four games at loanDepot Park over two visits in 2021 and 2024, of which the Dodgers have won two. After these visits, my rating of going to loanDepot Park is:
Hey, that was somehow NOT fun. Why did I put myself through all of this work?
Unlike a venue like Truist Park, which has a solid foundation ruined by baffling choices, and Rate Field in Chicago, which has all the energy of a divorced dad’s apartment mixed with a dentist’s office, LoanDepot Park is the end result of a series of terribly ill-fated decisions that could not have made sense to anyone at any point apart from tax considerations.
A retractable roof stadium is supposed to be interesting. Being able to see the Miami skyline is supposed to be interesting. The word interesting is not a word that I would use to describe this ballpark, as I consider the park to be a “mind-numbing failure.”
Therefore, I can not recommend attending a Dodgers game at LoanDepot Park. If the above 2,000 words are not enough to sway all but the most hearty Dodger chasers from going to this ballpark, then please enjoy and be well.
While I consider myself fortunate to have witnessed Dodger history on September 19, 2024, I am doubly grateful that I have no reason to return to this ballpark in the foreseeable future. While I admit that I have never been to a day game and have yet to take a newly created tour of the facilities, these factors are not enough to return to Miami anytime soon.
Adric: See you next time!
Michael Elizondo / True Blue LA