LoanDepot Park embraces the future without a team in the present.

As I walked along a sunbaked sidewalk from the Culmer metro station to LoanDepot Park, I stopped at a vacant lot. A giant number 16 overlooked the gravel plot, painted on a facade.

The bright blue shading had faded to an ironically appropriate turquoise. And it faced away from the ultra-modern ballpark, instead looking at a patch of nothingness in a humble neighborhood.

Much has happened since number 16, Jose Fernandez, rose to stardom, ignited a thirsty fan base, and tragically died in a drug-influenced boating accident: The team was sold and bought, ditched its blocky orange logo, hired the first MLB female general manager, subsequently let her walk, and, remarkably, made the playoffs twice.

The fanbase doesn’t just mourn Fernandez. It yearns for a homegrown hero, a culture-building player, and someone to make the beautiful, gleaming ballpark overshadowing Little Havana more than an empty shell.

Though the infrastructure is in place, Miami culture remains unsold on the Marlins.

Cultural Context

Built by architectural firm Populous for the team’s art-loving then-owner Jeffrey Loria, the park “is an abstract interpretation of water merging with land,” according to the designers.

That’s fine and all, but an abstract coastal interpretation towering over a working-class neighborhood is like serving peanut butter and jelly on a bed of lettuce—a novelty still needs proper context.

Despite Loria’s tainted legacy, I can appreciate his vision for the park, which would fit in with Miami’s Bayside or modern districts. And the left field windows, which slide open on mild nights, frame a world-class city that the Marlins surely could attract if they ever spent money on halfway decent players.

The new owners took steps to amend some of Loria’s branding missteps. The outfield walls are now navy blue instead of a gaudy lime green. The home run sculpture moved harmlessly outside, dwarfed by the park’s sweeping façade. Teal is back, in limited capacities, for throwback days and team store merchandise.

Yet, the latest fire sale of every impact player from the 2023 playoff roster reminded fans that the new ownership is plagued by Loria’s same disease. Stubborn frugality.

So the park now sits in this anachronistic tension, longing for a past that saw two lightning-in-a-bottle World Series titles, and yearning for a future where maybe the city beyond left field will consider a Marlins game among Miami’s high-class, energizing outings.

Neighborhood

One more thing has not changed since 2012: The ballpark sticks out.

It looks as if someone took a cruise passenger terminal and moved it three miles inland.

About a half mile north of historic Calle Ocho (8^th St. SW), LoanDepot Park sits in residential Little Havana devoid of much geared toward sports fans.

If you have time, I recommend spending an hour or two on Calle Ocho, enjoying Cuban cuisine and culture, which actually does love baseball.

Old residents compete against each other at Domino Park, colorful murals depict Cuban history (and even a Marlins logo), and you can sidestep roaming roosters while wondering for whom the cock crows.

La Colada Gourmet is the top spot in the neighborhood for Cuban coffee. Everything is for sale there “except the baristas,” according to a sign. However, that proved a lie when I asked if I could buy one of the Marlins bobbleheads behind the register. Those were “gifts” and are also not for sale. They need a new sign.

Old’s Havana Cuban Bar & Cocina is a picturesque restaurant serving up Cuban sandwiches and mojitos. Be on the lookout for lizards if you sit in the shaded garden out back (which I do recommend if it’s not too hot).

Down the road from the historic district is Versailles, “the world’s most famous Cuban restaurant,” according to themselves. If you don’t have time to sit down, stop by la ventanita (the walk-up coffee window outside) for to-go coffee and sandwiches.

For more on my walk through Little Havana, check out my postcard here.

Getting there

The ballpark also sits in a bit of a transportation desert.

I took the Metroline from Brickell (downtown) to Culmer. Each metro trip is only $2.25, and the park is less than a mile from the Culmer station. The walk crosses one of Miami’s many drawbridges, which could add time to the commute.

The Little Havana trolley route also drops off near the stadium. The trolley is free, but route is longer than the train if you’re coming from downtown.

I like staying in Brickell, which has a wealth of hotels and restaurants. The Brickell City Center is an upscale, open-air shopping mall with interesting restaurants and downtown views for your Instagram content pleasure.

For the active among us, the Underline trail provides a long, urban space for walking, running, or biking (literally under the Metroline tracks).

Where to sit

Unless a big-ticket opponent is in town, the 300 level is closed. Luckily, that means cheap tickets in the lower bowl.

The 37,000-seat stadium is one of the most intimate in the league, and any seat is a good one.

The infield seats, from behind home plate around the first base line, give the best view of downtown Miami through the left-field windows. I bought a ticket near the back of section 12 for $34 to a Sunday afternoon game.

If you’re looking for a bargain, the Marlins run a 4 for $44 deal. Families (or any groups of four I suppose) can get four tickets, four soft drinks, four hot dogs, and four small popcorns for $44. I’d put $44 down to say that’s the best deal in the league.

The 200-level seats on the infield provide great views, but I haven’t seen those tickets available on SeatGeek. You have to buy them directly from the team, which means they’re a bit more expensive than the rest of the park.

The left field/third base side seats are in the sun during the shoulder season roof-open day games.

The left field seats above the Marlins bullpen feel directly on top of the action and are convenient to food options, including the expansive Budweiser bar on the left field concourse. I bought tickets in the second row of section 29 for a Tuesday night game for $22.

Inside Eats

Aside from the 4 for $44 deal, the Marlins provide the clearest path to an economical 9-9-9 challenge. If you haven’t heard of it, the 9-9-9 is a viral (or mythical) challenge to consume nine beers and nine hot dogs within nine innings of baseball. Though, as my friend Tyler says, the challenge was made for pre-pitch clock days. Today, with sub-three-hour games, the task sounds uncomfortable and morally dubious. In most parks, it’s downright financially irresponsible.

At LoanDepot Park, though, stop by the Familia Faves concession stand in right field for the 305 menu, where hot dogs are $3 and 12 oz. Buds are $5. Some quick math: you can complete the 9-9-9 for $72 plus the price of your ticket.

In this economy, the Marlins are practically paying you to go to a game.

Elsewhere in the ballpark, concession stands feature tacos, barbecue, Cuban sandwiches, and so much alcohol you’d think you were on a Norwegian cruise ship.

Speaking of which, the Norwegian Home Run Harbor in left-center field provides one of the more interesting perches in baseball. With your back to the skyline, you can grab a drink and stand at a bar with an unobstructed view of the field.

Also, the little cruise ship mockup on the top of the bar shoots off flares when the Marlins homer (not a common occurrence) and as “the rockets’ red glare” during the National Anthem, which was an unwelcome explosion when I unwittingly stood right behind it for the pregame ceremony.

The Blue Moon Brew Hall sits off the main concourse in the home plate area and is your home for a cool $18 Blue Moon draft. In right field, you can get two Buds and two hot dogs for cheaper than that.

A few concession stands are tucked behind a wall on the main concourse in the left field corner in an area called “The Lineup.” You can get a burrito bowl, a pressed sandwich, or your share of desserts and drinks. Good news: there’s no line because no one seems to know it’s there. Bad news: it’s behind a wall, so you can’t watch the game if you do have to wait for your food.

Unique Features

In The Lineup’s spot used to be the Marlins museum and hall of fame, which showcases their two World Series trophies and memorabilia from favorite players and games throughout team history.

This offseason, they moved the exhibit to the 200-level concourse on the first base side. Much like the Marlins’ fleeting success, most people don’t know it exists. But if you’re a nostalgic fan like me, it’s a fun memory lane to see a Dan Uggla jersey or a lineup card featuring the name “Bonifacio.”

The Bobblehead Museum shakes and rattles on the centerfield concourse with over 500 bobbleheads from around the league. Though the figurines have faded in the Florida sun for the last 13 years, the exhibit is one of the park’s most popular—and fun—attractions where you can see some great (and not so great) likenesses of beloved players, super heroes, and cartoon characters.

Outside, the West Plaza is an architectural win. When the roof retracts, it covers the plaza, providing a shaded area for pregame activities like a batting cage and art installation.

Two colored walkways are artistic representations of the color spectrum by Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez

In one of the worst features of the park, the main team store is accessible only from the West Plaza—notably outside the ticketed border of the stadium. So you can enter the store before the game, with or without a ticket. But once you’re inside the ballpark, the store is inaccessible.

A few smaller team stores dot the main concourse inside, but this was nevertheless an atrocious design oversight.

This year, though, the Marlins don’t have much to market anyway.

While most teams market a handful of current players on team store jerseys, the Marlins only sell jerseys of retired ones like Andre Dawson and Dontrelle Willis.

Fans sport shirts of Giancarlo Stanton, Hanley Ramirez, and Uggla.

I saw one fan with a custom shirt that sported the name “Next” along with a question mark instead of a number.

Fans also wear Jeff Conine jerseys. Conine’s son Griffin is a budding star for Miami, and his acquisition by the Marlins was a tasteful nod by the organization. Conine got off to a hot start in 2025, but suffered a shoulder injury last week that will keep him sidelined for much of the season.

A Bridge to Nowhere

After I waltzed through the Marlins museum, I kept walking the rest of the 200 level.

Concession stands offered QR codes to pre-order food and skip the line. There were no lines.

Bartenders prepared bottles at standing-room spots overlooking the field. No one wanted a drink.

And a young worker offered to take my picture in front of the two World Series trophies in the museum. It’s her usual job during games, and though she can’t watch the game, she enjoys chatting with fans.

She might be onto something. The ballpark is especially beautiful if you don’t watch the on-field product.

The glistening facility and old Marlins heritage are a welcome bridge. But right now, it’s a bridge to nowhere.

My favorite aspect of LoanDepot Park is the retractable left-field windows that frame the skyline. If you sit behind home plate, it’s an impeccable backdrop.

But if you walk to the left field concourse and let the Miami breeze hit you, you’ll see the verdant neighborhood that intervenes between the park and the high rises. The Marlins front office would do well to stand in this spot and ask themselves if they’re doing enough to attract those fans, to build a team worthy of a world-class venue, and to bridge past and present better than the building merges water with land.