some great views in this conference.

I've seen 10-12 games at San Josè Municipal Stadium. It gets packed for SJ Giants games because of its affordability for pro baseball, MLB affiliate, and unique promotions like the beer batter (If a designated opposing player strikes out before the 7th certain beers are half price for a limited time.) What is pretty neat is that the outside of the ballpark is decorated with pictures of notable SJ Giants alumni like Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford. It's a pretty old park-built in the 1940's.

So it's a nice place to see a minor league game but looks like a ghost town for the Spartans. They are the secondary tenants, and from looking at the Spartans schedule it looks like they play a lot of day games, and some of their games end early not due to weather (time crunch w/the Giants' practices?) It's a city ballpark just a couple of blocks from the football stadium.

I would recommend for anyone thinking of going there to see an SJ Giants game instead of SJSU, so as to see the place at its best. Also, and this is important, you pretty much need to drive there. There is no public transportation whatsoever that will take you within even 1/2 mile of the place + you definitely don't want to walk there. I thought I was clever just walking from the America's Best Value Inn (closest lodging), avoiding parking. Do not do this ! Like other parts of San Josè there are missing sidewalks + you're forced to walk really close to a large homeless encampment on E. Alma Ave. each way because there's no sidewalk on the other side of the street. Not a nice part of town either. Stay in a nicer area + drive there.

I have been to Peecole Park (Nevada), but it doesn't really have anything on Dobbins Stadium. If Greater Nevada Field (where the Triple-A Reno Aces play) is any indication, the altitude definitely thwarts pitching. The other day the River Cats played an 11inning game there. After 10 innings it was tied 7-7. Sacramento won in the 11th by a score of 15-13 ! Greater Nevada is a nice stadium, but I thought the food sucked. Better just to eat and gamble at "The Row", which is maybe 2 blocks from Greater Nevada and about a mile from the UNR campus.

UNLV's ballpark looks sharp. I was going to include it on a visit to LV during COVID-19 but wound up cancelling it + going to El Paso, where I was able to eat inside Applebee's while all the losers in CA had to socially-distance outside or get take-out. Getting away from CA made the whole trip worthwile. UTEP doesn't have a team but the AAA El Paso Chihuahuas have a really neat-looking park, the interior of which you can completely view from the pedestrian path behind the third base stands. One could hypothetically set up a lawn chair + watch a game as well as anybody in the park It has a much smaller capacity (only 7-8,000) than Sutter Health Park but still has two decks.

This is a really helpful post! The minor-league and college stadium relationships are interesting..

The answer to the early SJSU games turned out to be much simpler- the Mountain West Conference has a 10-run mercy rule after the 7th inning ! Even with that rule the Spartans managed to lose one game in Albuquerque 25-5!!!!

The mercy rule will really help out UC Davis because its pitching is not elite (really never has been) and it's going to get clobbered playing in all these hitter-friendly environments. The only way they really will win conference games on the road is to develop elite hitting so they can win HR derbies. Much easier said than done when half of the games are played at Dobbins Stadium. At least this way when they're getting destroyed they don't have to waste pitchers on the last 1-2 innings. That last part is important too because starting next season the maximum roster size drops from 40 to 34, so they can't carry as many pitchers.

The baseball roster for 2026 will be interesting too. According to UCDAVISAGGIES.COM 9 players were seniors this year, and junior Leighton Helfrick also graduated. So you have 30 potential returning players for 34 spots. However, they have at least 5-6 incoming freshmen per FieldLevel.com, and they're going to need a few junior college transfers too to make up for losing so many players to graduation, so I'm guessing these would-be returners may not be on the roster in 2026

OF Jack Castagnola- 2 years with the team. Barely played as a freshman, did not play as a sophomore.

P Sal Batres-borderline call. He pitched 2 years for UCD and was initially touted as a closer/starting pitcher, but he gave up 10 walks in 3 innings in 4 appearances this year per the UCD website, and had mixed results as a freshman. The talent is there but on a smaller roster I don't how many spots on the pitching staff they'll have.

P Zach Romero-another borderlined call. His first two years were pretty decent for essentially getting just mid-week work. This year though he pitched in just 1 game, and it was late in the season, so it makes me wonder if he was injured or just dropped in the pecking order behind the freshmen ?

P Jack Meek-on the bubble. He just didn't pitch very well. On the bright side, junior college transfers tend more often than not to complete their senior seasons at UCD, and they usually improve. Also, he kept the walks to a minimum, which is very good.

P Sam Papp. He's been on the roster for 2 years and hasn't appeared in a game. In baseball that has more meaning than in football.

OF Caden Pinnick-he'll likely be too busy being a QB

I did not include any of the other freshmen who didn't play this year (Schelp, Ireland) because it's not clear whether that was due to injury or coach's decision.

While I did use playing time as a metric in making this list I left Bonanno off of it because his UCD profile says he had TJ surgery during or prior to his true freshman year. It stands to reason he wouldn't play much this year. Perhaps others on the list have similar situations ?