On the Road with Eli(zondo) and Adric ... in Minneapolis

[Author’s Note: usually the song with each entry has some tie to the region, honestly, I remember driving to the Wisconsin border while listening to Gordon Lightfoot.]

So you’ve decided to heed the call to adventure. Good for you. If you need to refer back to what the Guide actually is or who I actually am, please refer to the included links.

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The best customer service in the Major Leagues

Introduction

The Guide has the following to say about going to a game at Target Field:

It’s nice. Too nice. Is this ballpark is what baseball heaven is like?

Oh wait, the weather has just turned and now I am physically miserable.

Target Field is good — really good, when the weather cooperates. When the weather does not cooperate, you will long for the comforts of a dome.

Going to a game at Target Field should not work. Located in central Minnesota, Target Field is one of the most northern stadiums in North America, with only Seattle being more north. The stadium is on a tiny plot of land in a downtown city in the upper Midwest.

If you overthink it, you can dwell on every feature at Target Field and how it should not work. And yet, in the heart of Minneapolis, you have a stadium that is more than the sum of its parts. You have an experience that every Dodgers fan should experience every two years while visiting the home of the Minnesota Twins.

Like its divisional cousin in Kansas City, if you are going to watch a ballgame, and the weather cooperates, which is a mighty big if, you should have a nice time. The following is all you will need to know about going to a Dodgers/Twins game at Target Field.

The Five Questions of the Guide:

1. Is it worth going here?

Yes, it would be best if you considered going here every two years.

Michael Elizondo / True Blue LA

Enjoying a game at Target Field involves answering two questions, one of which you will not have any control over whatsoever.

1. Will the weather cooperate?
2. Like in nearby Milwaukee, are you willing to get what you pay for?

It is pretty simple: in the upper Midwest, sometimes you are forced to play weather roulette. If the weather cooperates, your game will likely be perfect, with the right balance of temperature and humidity.

But if you lose weather roulette? Remember, this stadium has no dome. If you barely lose weather roulette, it will just be hot and muggy — typical Midwestern stuff. But if you truly lose weather roulette, depending on the time of year, prepare for freezing rain or snow.

That scenario is exactly what happened to me in April 2022. The first time I ever left a Dodger game early was April 12, 2022, when the rains outlasted the last train back to my hotel.

For the first-timer at Target Field, you can go to Guest Services and request your own First Game Certificate, as previously discussed, Moreover, if you forget or if yours is damaged, you can request a replacement from Customer Service, as you can see below.

Michael Elizondo / True Blue LA

What I cannot overemphasize enough is the quality of the customer service at this ballpark. I signed up for the MVP Tour, which was marketed as being VIP and exclusive for $100. When I was late due to my Uber driver somehow being lost in the adjacent parking garage, Twins’ customer service reached out to me by cell and gave step-by-step instructions for the driver, then had someone meet me at another gate so that I could join the tour group.

But I’m not done! Then, when inclement weather forced an early end to the tour, the Twins’ tour leader gave each of us roughly $50-60 worth of Twins’ swag. I ended up giving most of it away because you know, I’m a Dodger fan, but I deeply appreciated the gesture.

And I’m still not done — two weeks after I got home, I got a thank you card for visiting Target Field, which I still have to this day.

Michael Elizondo / True Blue LA

When I rave about the customer service at this ballpark, I mean it. The only note I have is to not bring a tripod or a selfie stick to the ballpark. The ushers had a particularly aggressive response to protecting the intellectual property of baseball. So as long as you do not commit that faux pas, you should encounter what I consider the best customer service in baseball.

2. How should I get there?

Michael Elizondo / True Blue LA

Unless you lived nearby, I could hardly expect anyone to do anything but fly to Minneapolis. Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport (MSP) is a Delta Airlines hub, so getting to Minneapolis is fairly easy. Plus Minneapolis is serviced by Sun Country Airlines, which is basically a better version of Frontier Airlines.

One has multiple options to get to Target Field. If one picks a hotel close enough to the ballpark, one can just walk to the ballpark as the stadium is an urbanized area. For one game, I took a rideshare to get to the ballpark, and for the other, I used the light rail system to get to and from the ballpark.

Personally, I find the area around Target Field to be a bit maze-like, and some extra signage and lighting is needed to find the light rail station, especially in inclement weather. I found that rideshare was hit and miss as to getting and from the ballpark as the drivers I found did not know the area very well. Personally, it takes a special talent to get lost in a parking garage that is literally attached to the stadium.

It looks as if there is more mass transit servicing Target Field than when I last visited. Considering the urban nature of the area by the ballpark, I would not advise renting a car and parking at the ballpark unless one was a local. While there are 7000 parking spaces in the adjacent garage and about 25000 parking spaces in downtown, one getting to the game by car will need to use SpotHero find parking near the venue. Thankfully, the prices appear to be reasonable if one is willing to walk the rest of the way.

The downside to taking the light rail is eventually it will stop running for the night, so plan accordingly. If you pick a nearby hotel, this issue will likely be a minor one. However, if one picked a hotel that is further away, which is a perfect segue to the next question.

3. Where should I stay?

Now, as we have established most Dodger fans coming into Minneapolis are likely out-of-towners, most fans who use this Guide entry will likely be flying into MSP. As such, most visitors to Target Field will likely not have a car. There are quite a few hotels in the vicinity of Target Field, and most of them are in downtown, relatively close to Target Field.

Courtesy of Google Maps.

You might be tempted to try to save some money by being farther away from the ballpark. After all, the light rail extends to MSP and has a stop at the nearby Mall of America. I made this mistake and I would recommend that one does as I suggest, rather than what I did. If I had to do it over again, I would have just paid a bit extra for a nearby hotel rather than try to refine some so-called inefficiency by trying to be the Mall of America and MSP.

Courtesy of Google Maps

After speaking to a few sources in Twins Twitter, they recommended hotels including the Best Western Plus The Normandy, as it is an excellent combination of both price and proximity to the light rail. One could technically walk three-quarters of a mile to Target Field, but I would just walk a couple of blocks to the station, buy an all-day pass, and not worry too hard about getting to and from the stadium.

4. Where should I sit?

Michael Elizondo / True Blue LA

Normally, I give you a range of options for where to sit for a road Dodgers game. However, this time, the seating recommendations are fairly simple. Ticket prices at Target Field are extremely reasonable for the venue’s beauty. Like seeing a Pittsburgh Pirates game in Pittsburgh, the ticket prices are far more reasonable than at Dodger Stadium.

The design firm, Populous, designed PNC Park, Target Field, Oracle Park, and Oriole Park at Camden Yards, among others. If you have been to PNC Park, you can see the influences at Target Field.

Again, the main difference is the weather. Warm rain in Pittsburgh is no big deal. Cold or freezing rain is a much different story. As such, there is only one place where I would recommend sitting regardless of the weather. Otherwise, feel free to sit wherever you like, just be mindful that seats behind home plate or the dugouts will cost you.

Michael Elizondo / True Blue LA

These seats were called Delta Club seating when I last went in 2022. Now these seats are called Thirvent Club seating. As you can see from the photo, you have a great view of the game but you also have access to the climate-controlled club area with indoor vendors and televisions to see the game, if the weather does not cooperate.

Courtesy of the Minnesota Twins / Illustration by Michael Elizondo / True Blue LA

Here’s the kicker about these seats: you cannot buy single-game tickets in this section directly from the team as they are technically luxury seats. For these seats, you can get them on the secondary market, and on average are $50-100/ticket. All things considered, these seats are quite the bargain.

5. After your trip, is it worth going back?

• Hey, that was fun! This trip needs to be a yearly event, if possible! (assuming the weather cooperates)

Michael Elizondo / True Blue LA

I attended two-ish games at Target Field in April 2022. The Dodgers won both as Kershaw flirted with perfection. Weather aside, I would go again. The only reason I pass on going is that there are other ballparks to visit and sometimes the charms of Minneapolis are best felt in months other than April.

Going to a game here is not a perfect experience, but it is damn good, assuming the weather cooperates. At its worst, going to Target Field is a bit like going to Target on a Sunday afternoon: you question your life choices while surrounded by the bourgeois. At its best, Target Field is at least in the conversation of upper-tier ballparks like PNC Park and Petco Park,

Michael Elizondo / True Blue LA