Dodgers travel guide to Fenway Park

Adric at Fenway Park. August 25, 2023 | Michael Elizondo / True Blue LA

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.

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Not nice, but kind

The Guide has the following to say about going to a game at Fenway Park:

Say chowdah. Do it right! Tell your mother I said hi. These Sawks tickets are wicked expensive.

New Englanders, particularly those from Boston, often receive a bad rap for being perceived as brusque, loud, and cliquish in matters of race. In my experience, the Boston faithful are

not what I would consider nice, but they are kind and generally leave well enough alone.

Fenway Park is the oldest and generally smallest ballpark in regular use in MLB. The home of the Boston Red Sox opened in 1912, and in some ways, it's absolutely evident. As a native Californian, the thought of going to Fenway was always something that sounded off to my ear. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever envision that I would watch a game in Boston.

In 2023, my mother and I checked this stadium off our collective bucket lists.

As the smallest stadium in MLB, be prepared to pay a premium while dealing with similar logistical issues that you would find at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Fenway is flawed, but it has a soul that some new ballparks like loanDepot Park will never have. In many ways, Fenway is an urbanist’s dream ballpark, but there are different hurdles to manage and overcome if one were to make the trek from California to see the ballpark.

Yes, it is worth it to see the Dodgers play at Fenway Park; just be prepared to pay for the privilege. Whether one would want to return every two years is an open question. Here is all you need to know about attending a Dodgers/Red Sox game in Boston.

The Five Questions of the Guide

1. Is it worth going here?

Yes, but be prepared to open your wallet.

Michael Elizondo / True Blue LA

Outside Fenway Park. August 27, 2023

The best way to describe the surrealism of Fenway Park is to reference the State of the Union speech. The annual speech is given in the House Chamber, and one can be forgiven if the room seems grand and spacious. However, when you visit the Chamber in Washington, D.C, say on a visit to Nationals Park, one cannot help but notice how small the Chamber is.

Along those same lines, for all of its majesty and history, Fenway Park is small and designed for a different age, for better or worse. Sometimes, the majesty of baseball can be summed up with photography more than words.

Michael Elizondo / True Blue LA

Fenway Park. August 25, 2023.

However, there have been renovations, including the construction of a jewel box stadium, as well as certain aspects that one might take for granted, such as aisles, excellent universal views, and seats designed for larger individuals.

Yes, the Dodgers visit every two years; it should not take two years to save up for and attend three games in Boston, especially if one is flying in from California.

The food itself at Fenway is just fine, which is a disappointment considering the likely king’s ransom one would have to pay to attend. Truthfully, one’s best bet is to eat before the game at one of the many restaurants in the neighborhood outside of Fenway. If you make your way to New England, and you don’t have your share of lobster rolls and oysters, you are doing something wrong (barring a food allergy).

Tours are offered at Fenway year round. While not offering as many extensive options as Dodger Stadium, one can opt for a one-hour tour of the ballpark, rain or shine. As I recall, the tour was fine, albeit a bit rushed. Also, one might have to buy a ticket in person because online sales can sell out. Back in 2023, I had a choice of options to go to tours, which were sold out online as the Dodger faithful came out in droves for Mookie Betts’ return.

One can even opt to take a drone tour of Fenway Park without visiting the stadium.

First Game bundles are offered by customer service, which includes a button and a link to generate a digital First Game Certificate. If you have misplaced your link, please contact Customer Service, and they will be happy to resend it to you so that you can generate your certificate.

Michael Elizondo / True Blue LA

First Game Certificate

The Fenway Faithful are generally rowdy and respectful. Patter and banter are to be expected but as long as you are polite, it is all in good fun. Granted, I did not test this theory in the cheaper bleacher seats.

2. How should I get there?

Michael Elizondo / True Blue LA

Fenway Park. Grandstand. August 25, 2023.

If you live in California, getting to Boston is straightforward: one flies to Boston. Getting around Boston is fairly easy, but keep in mind that the city was designed hundreds of years ago, so be prepared for some interesting street layouts.

While parking is technically possible near Fenway Park, under no circumstances should one default to using anything but public transportation to get to and from this ballpark. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) offers bus and rail lines that serve the ballpark.

Screenshot courtesy of Google Maps

The Brown Line is the T Line.

The T Line has a stop on Lansdowne Street, which empties onto David Ortiz Drive, three minutes away from the ballpark on foot. One can also walk to Fenway Park, which is an experience in of itself.

3. Where should I stay?

Finding a hotel is the second-biggest hurdle that a traveling Dodger fan will face when visiting Fenway Park. While there are options in the immediate vicinity of the ballpark, they sell out quickly, and they can be quite expensive.

Screenshot courtesy of Google Maps

The hotels near Fenway Park.

The simplest solution would be to stay at either the Residence Inn Boston or The Verb Hotel and just walk to the ballpark. I stayed at The Verb Hotel in 2023. A converted Howard Johnson’s, the music-themed hotel was literally a five-minute walk to the ballpark.

Moreover, during my stay, I was entitled to discounts at local restaurants, like Eventide, where I indulged in brown butter lobster rolls and oysters over multiple games. A good oyster should taste like the sea, briny and tangy, especially when paired with horseradish ice.

If one is on a budget, any hotel that is near the T line will suffice. The problem with this approach is that hotels sell out extremely quickly. For my 2023 adventure, most of the applicable hotels sold out months in advance. Also, I had to switch hotels because I had a second-floor room with no elevator.

4. Where should I sit?

Michael Elizondo / True Blue LA

Fenway Park. August 26, 2023.

The main hurdle to overcome for attending a Dodgers game at Fenway Park is the exorbitant price of tickets. Granted, these prices are a literal drop in the bucket compared to what I paid to watch the Dodgers in Tokyo.

Generally, most people should not drop the cost of a moderately used car on baseball tickets. However, some views are worth the once-in-a-lifetime cost. Please be mindful that those seats offer little to no protection from the sun, so it's essential to dress and use sunscreen accordingly.

Much like Petco Park in San Diego or Oracle Park in San Francisco, the concept of a cheap ticket when the Dodgers come to town is purely a hypothetical. Except to pay in excess of $150/ticket. Considering Fenway is a jewel box stadium, terrible seats are part in parcel with the experience. Baseball social media content creator Cameron Guzzo provides an example of one such seat.

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A post shared by Cameron Guzzo (@cameronguzzo)

Fenway Park is one of those parks where sitting in the front row may not be the best option unless you are right behind home plate or sitting atop the Monster. The stadium can be most charitably described as cozy, so fans walking in front of sections can and often do block view of the action.

The general rule of thumb is to sit at least two to three rows back in most sections of the ballpark (think row CC or higher) to alleviate this problem. With Grandstand seats, if you sit in the very front of the section, you can avoid most of the obstruction that comes from the support poles.

Image courtesy of the Boston Red Sox / Illustration by Michael Elizondo / True Blue LA

The sections highlighted in yellow are one’s best bet.

The Red Sox have a 3D-viewer to simulate from literally any seat in the ballpark. The views are approximate at best, but they served me well in 2023. As a general rule, any seat within the yellow section I have indicated in the illustration would work to see the Dodgers in Boston.

However, those seats will generally cost you. For what you will pay, there is no reason to sit in the outfield with one monster of an exception. The questions of value, budget, and socialization are rendered moot in Boston because a) the Dodger tax renders the cheap ticket or budget impossible, and b) the ballpark is so cozy that unless you are the most hardened of introverts, you will socialize with your seatmates.

The $64,000 question that most people have about Fenway Park is the following:

• Is it worth it to watch a game from on top of the Green Monster?

Michael Elizondo / True Blue LA

Adric atop the Green Monster. Fenway Park. August 27, 2023.

Truthfully, yes, with conditions and exactly once.

There are ten sections on top of the Monster with three rows each. However, it is only worth it to sit in the front row, which reduces the blind spot in left field. The higher you go, the greater the blind spot will be.

If you can find a front row seat on the Monster for less than $1,000, it’s worth doing exactly once. There are minimal concessions on the Monster, so one would be best served by getting everything early.

Also, if you do not prepare for direct sun exposure for several hours, you will likely get sunburned. With those caveats aside, you may see something you will never see again from an angle you can only dream of.

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

Michael Elizondo / True Blue LA

Outside Fenway Park. August 27, 2023.

In the disclaimer to the Guide, I described the informal range of subjective outcomes that can occur after visiting a location. So far, I have attended three games at Fenway Park in 2023, during which the Dodgers won two. After these visits, my rating of going to Fenway Park is:

• Hey, that was fun, but I don’t need to go back right away.

Fenway Park offers a superior ballpark experience compared to its contemporary counterpart, Wrigley Field. The problem is that the exorbitant costs of hotels and tickets for a Dodgers/Red Sox game in Boston, which dwarfs whatever edge Fenway has over Wrigley. Sometimes good enough is just that.

Yes, the Dodgers visit every two years; it should not take two years to save up for and attend three games in Boston, especially if one is flying in from California.

It is worth visiting Fenway Park as a bucket list event.

Still, paying playoff prices for the regular season is a cost that most people cannot afford regularly. As such, I cannot recommend visiting Fenway Park more than once without extenuating circumstances that would help alleviate the cost.

If you have disposable income to spare, go for it. Otherwise, I would honestly use the funds to return to other stadiums with more modern amenities and slightly more forgiving costs.

The only reason I can look back on my visit to Boston with nostalgia is that the costs were dwarfed by those in Tokyo. When you offer an experience that far exceeds the costs of going to the ballpark at Dodger Stadium, it better be one hell of an experience for all the trouble.

Fenway Park almost pulls it off, but for the same price, I can do six games in both Pittsburgh and Baltimore with money left over. It turns out there is a price for being “beloved,” regardless of how often one sings “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond.

Michael Elizondo / True Blue LA

Adric: See you next time!

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