Kauffman Stadium: Ballpark of Royalty

Kansas City Royals 6, Cleveland Indians 4 Ben's pregame pick: Royals Pick record 1-2 Nick's pregame pick: Royals Pick record: 2-1

Date: July 25, 2014 Designated hitters: Eric, Josh, Riley, and Tyler Overall trip rating: 8.4 Trip theme: "Suite Life"

Pregame

The trip to Kansas City for the Royals game was a little different than the others have been. The adventure to Kauffman Stadium originated as a bachelor party that we both were a part of. The travel wasn't terrible as we decided to make the drive there ourselves.

After an overnight stop (with some great food and a small-town bar scene) to cut down on the trip, we bumped our hip hop music (the groom's genre of preference) all the way to K.C.

Our first stop was at the hotel, Harrah's North Kansas City. We still had not had anything to eat, and check in wasn't for another couple of hours, so we went to the casino buffet for some lunch. We had our choice of just about any style we wanted — Chinese, pizza, barbeque, pasta, salad, tacos, and of course, dessert. We also started the bachelor party with a round of beers to go with our seemingly infinite food selection.



Once lunch was finished, we still had time before our room was available, and what better place to kill time at Harrah's than the casino.

Some gambling occurred (unfortunately some last-minute work did as well), but by the time our cab arrived to take us to the game, all of us were up, or at least even, in our winnings.

The game

The cab ride from Harrah's to Kauffman was eventful to say the least. The driver gave some interesting advice for our groom and he told us the fun places to "boogie" in the city.

Travel tip: Taking a cab, if you're close enough to the stadium that it's not terribly expensive, is a great way to get to the ballpark. You don't pay for parking, you don't have to wait in line with all the other cars, and it drops you off right at the front of the stadium.

The outside of Kauffman is beautiful. Small trees outline the property and the stadium itself looks very modern. We made our way inside and headed to our seats... in the Frank White Lounge.

Inside, we were welcomed immediately to a cool blast of air from the air-conditioned environment. The cool room was filled with chairs, tables, couches and a couple of TVs airing the broadcast of the game. The attendants were just setting out the food for the suite guests — a buffet of chips, nacho cheese, pretzels, chicken wings with a couple of sauces, barbequed pulled pork, hot dogs, salad, and free beer — among other beverages. We felt like our social classes had just been bumped up a couple notches.

The staff inside were pleasant and willing to help at a moment's notice. After piling our plates with as much food as we could, we headed outside to the balcony where our seats were.

We were in the front row of the lounge seats, with a table in front of us and cushioned seats with wheels to sit on.

The game only enhanced our experience. It was a divisional matchup between the Royals and the Indians — Kansas City was 1/2 a game up on Cleveland for second entering Friday, so both teams were fighting to inch closer to the Detroit Tigers.

In the second inning, Ben and I left our seats to go give Riley his ticket — he had to meet us at the game due to prior arrangements. After we handed his ticket through the fence the crowd in the stadium roared. We were curious. As Riley entered the ball park, we heard another roar from the crowd. Seconds later, a pair of texts from Tyler confirmed our fears:

"U just missed a Perez bomb to left"; "And Moose back-to-back"

Catcher Salvador Perez and third baseman Mike Moustakas put the Royals ahead with a pair of home runs. The home run trend continued in the third inning when Carlos Santana pulled Cleveland within one run at 2-1.

Raul Ibanez gave the home fans something to cheer about with an RBI-triple, scoring Alex Gordon. Ibanez scored on an overthrow when the Indians tried to catch him at third.

Cleveland tied the game at 4-4 with another homer from Santana and a sacrifice fly from Jason Kipnis. But in the bottom of the eighth inning, Billy Butler broke the tie with a pinch-hit, two-run home run.

 (Courtesy Riley)

After the game, fans were treated to a fireworks show. Instead of watching we bolted for Riley's car in order to beat the traffic. Unfortunately for us, the fireworks were over and many, many cars had started to leave by the time we found it. For the first time, we had to deal with a line of cars as we left one of our games.

Postgame

We went back to the hotel — some to rest, some to refuel on Five Hour Energy, and some to gamble a little before we went out for the night.

Around 11:30, we called for a couple of cabs to take us to the Power & Light District. Our first stop there, and ultimately our only one, was the PBR Bar.

As soon as we walk into the bar, we see the mechanical bull and instantly start to plot our first mission: get the groom on the bull. After talking to one of the waitresses and paying a few bucks, the mission was accomplished.

We stayed at the PBR Bar for some time and even ran into some friends most of us knew, which only added to the experience.

After our time in downtown K.C., we decided to go back to the casino. We rejuvenated ourselves with some late night/early morning food from the cafe at the casino and hit the tables, and boy were they hot.

After playing some Blackjack, we moved to the Craps table, where we rode the heaters of two individuals. One of those rollers' turns lasted for what seemed like an hour, at least.

Finally, around 6 a.m. and after we had won enough to cover virtually all expenses we made during the trip, we decided to end the night, and, ultimately, the trip.

Standings

Obviously, with the unique circumstances, the numbers on this trip are a little skewed. Kansas City actually takes the top spot on the rankings, and here's why:

The Frank White Lounge played a huge role in the ballpark rating, which got an 8.3. When it comes to food and beer, it's hard to beat a free unlimited supply and some great choices of each. The sex appeal of the ballpark was great. Its modern look and cleanliness make it a desirable place to watch a game.

The nightlife scored even higher, with an 8.5. Power & Light is a great place to go for a good time. The crowd consists of a younger population, and just about all of them like to have fun. There was a cover charge and the beers aren't any cheaper than any ordinary place, but that was expected from a place like P&L. The district offers many different kinds of bars, some more tame than others. The transportation was the only average thing when it came to the nightlife — pricy and nothing special when it came to access and service (other than the wacky/funny cab driver on the way to the stadium).

Rank	Stadium	Rating
1.	Kauffman Stadium	8.4
2.	Wrigley Field	8.3
3.	Coors Field	7.1

Schedule

Kansas City was our third and final trip of this season, but have no fear, we will continue to update our blog with posts about teams we saw, MLB news and fun stuff the beautiful sport of baseball has to offer.

Taking a look at next season, we believe we have our sites set. The goal is to visit the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field, the Minnesota Twins at Target Field, and the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park.

As always, feel free to shoot us a comment about what you thought about Kansas City, some things to check out at our future sites, or some things you want to see on our blog during our time not on the road and during the offseason. Be sure to follow us on Twitter, @MLBjourneymen, and check out our Instagram account, mlbjourneymen.

Thanks for traveling with us on this journey!

"You spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball, and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time."

— Jim Bouton