This past Saturday afternoon, Andrew and I attended a New York Mets baseball game at Citi Field. It was a cold and wet day (the game had been postponed from Friday night due to rain and wind), but we braved the elements anyway to get our fix of live baseball.
The last time I saw a Mets game was at the old Shea Stadium, so this was my first visit to the “new” ballpark. Wow! I’m really impressed; the design is fantastic. For all that it holds some 45,000 plus people, it has an intimate and accessible feel to it. The main field-level concourse goes completely around the park, all the while with views of the playing field, and contains a wide array of food and drink vendors along with the usual souvenir shops. 
Behind the outfield is the main food court and attractions plaza, including a play-area for kids. Nearby the kids zone, Mr. Met posed for pictures with fans (see at right).
The game itself was a bit of a bust. The Mets were playing the Washington Nationals, and since we had already clinched the National League Eastern Division title many of our star players were sitting the game out. Noah Syndergaard was on the mound and pitched a good game, but the Mets’ bats were largely silent and didn’t provide him with any run support.
It could have been worse: in the later game of the day/night double-header, the Mets were on the losing side of a no-hitter. By then, Andrew and I were home and watching on TV instead of freezing our butts off in the stands.
Our seats were actually pretty good (view from our seats at left). We were on the “Excelsior” level, which is the first open-air tier above the field level seats and is just above the ring of luxury boxes. We were in a section known as “Caesar Gold,” which meant we had access to the Caesars Club bar and lounge located behind us inside. Between us and the club were the press boxes, so the club itself did not have views of the field but rather looked out on the plaza in front of the rotunda entrance. Although you couldn’t walk all the way around the field as on the field-level concourse, there was also a concourse on our level that was similarly designed so that you always got a view of the field while walking around on it.
Access to the club was key to enjoying the game. It gave us a place to go warm up, grab a bite to eat and some hot coffee or hot chocolate, with TV monitors scattered around comfortable chairs so we didn’t miss out on too much of the game. 
And (bonus!) we got to pass by the SNY broadcast booth on our way to and from our seats–if you look closely at the nearby picture, you’ll see broadcaster and ’86 Mets 1st baseman Keith Hernandez in the booth doing his thing. The entrances to the club are on either side of the broadcast booths, where the maroon uniformed ushers are standing.
While it wasn’t the most pleasant day for a baseball game, it was an excellent scouting trip for a more substantial visit next season. Perhaps Andrew and I will get our mom and a couple friends and go see a game on a lovely summer day…!
