Image Credit: Tim Evanson (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Major League Baseball has announced that Progressive Field, home of the Cleveland Indians, will host the 2019 MLB All-Star Game on July 11th, 2019. The All-Star Game will be the sixth All-Star Game hosted by the Cleveland Indians; a league record. The game will also be the second MLB All-Star Game to be played at Progressive Field; the first being in 1997, a time period in which the Cleveland Indians dominated Major League Baseball.
Progressive Field opened in 1994 and instantly became one of the most popular and groundbreaking ballparks in Major League Baseball. The Indians organization have made a number of renovations and upgrades to the ballpark since the All-Star Game was last held in 1997. Several thousand seats behind home plate and in right field were removed to make room for drink rails, a bar known as “The Corner” and a gathering area for Indians season ticket holders. The main concourse on the lower level was also structurally changed to give fans a better view of the field as they walk around the lower level.
Image Credit: Erik Drost (CC BY 2.0)
The MLB All-Star Game was held in Cleveland, Ohio in 1935, 1954, 1963, 1981 and 1997. The Tampa Bay Rays are the only Major League Baseball team that has never hosted an MLB All-Star Game. The team is currently making efforts to have a new ballpark built in the immediate future and an All-Star game would likely soon follow. The Miami Marlins have also never hosted an MLB All-Star Game but is hosting the 2017 contest at Marlins Park. The Washington Nationals will be hosting the event in 2018 at Nationals Park. For a while, Major League Baseball made an effort to alternate host sites between American League and National League teams. However, the American League hasn’t hosted an MLB All-Star game since 2014 when the event was held at Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins.
Cleveland Indians fans are hoping the Tribe can make another deep playoff run after a heartbreaking loss in 2016’s World Series vs. the Chicago Cubs. Overall attendance at the ballpark has increased following the team’s successful season. We’ll see how those attendance numbers have fared come September when the season nears it’s end.
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