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As the amount of parks I have to visit winds down, it becomes both more difficult and less convenient to string out road trips to hit them. From Chicago, at this point, I have to reach Phoenix, Seattle, Atlanta, Florida, Texas, and Kansas City -- the closest of which is around 6 hours away by car. Wanting to leg out a few parks before the 2024 season ended, I took the final somewhat convenient road trip I could: from Chicago to Kansas City, from there to Arlington, and from there to St Louis for a re-visit of one of my favorite parks (which inspired me to write a blog post after an incredible ninth inning). My first stop was visiting an old friend, Eric, in Kansas City and taking him to his first Royals game, despite him living there for the greater part of five years. This is something that I don't typically touch on with these blog posts but is something I'm grateful for: the ability to help share the experience of baseball with people I hold dear, and writing them into the record of my stadium chase. Eric went to a Royals' playoff game later that year and sent me the photo of the playoff atmosphere and packed stadium (both things lacking from the 2024 White Sox), which made me very happy to see. It also made me think about my visit to Yankee stadium with Octavia and how she has sent me photos of visiting Oracle Park and revisiting Yankee Stadium -- there's something about the air of a baseball game that's addictive.

Kauffman Stadium is part of a two-stage sports complex with Arrowhead Stadium, with an expansive parking lot between both venues. Kauffman Stadium itself is huge, with a sprawling concourse that is half-enclosed by the seats above it and half open-air. It reminds me a bit of Progressive Field, with direct entrances to the stadium flanking the outfield. The view from the seats is serene, with a highway sitting in front of rolling hills and greenery. There are very few buildings in the landscape, making it somewhat unique amongst ballparks. The crown jewel of the stadium, so to speak, is the colossal logo-shaped scoreboard that hangs above center field. Unlike most scoreboards, it is square, meaning some resolution is sacrificed for the imagery -- but I believe this is a fine trade-off as they were still able to display a lot of information. The freer outfield wall is lined by fountains that flash different colors when the sky dims and spray water up after big hits and home runs.

Speaking of big hits and home runs, this game had quite a few of them: 18 hits for the Red Sox, 9 for the Royals, and a home run to boot for each side including a Vinnie Pasquantino blast to deep right field. This, however, didn't stem the bleeding from a four-run seventh inning from the Red Sox that saw a back-to-back wild pitch (that Rafael Devers scores on) home run by pinch hitter Romy Gonzalez. The Royals fell, 9-5, but spirits were still high amongst the fans in the stadium: their team was 63-51, looking very likely to clinch a playoff spot and their first winning record since 2015. And, of course, they wound up doing both and even swept the Orioles in the Wild Card before eventually falling to the AL-champion Yankees.

The final part about the stadium I'd like to talk about is the most insane food item that I have ever seen at a ballpark: the K-Dog. Eric was excited to try this as he had seen it advertised before -- the signage at the stadium described it as "a charred hot dog wrapped in a cheeseburger quesadilla and topped with barbecue brisket, french fries, shredded romaine, pickled red onion, sriracha cracker jacks, and 816 BBQ sauce." At $25 for 2, it is still considerably cheaper than a lobster roll at Fenway. It tasted surprisingly good, with the brisket being a highlight. The only negative being the texture of the cracker jacks bringing down the overall feel of the taco. I wound up picking the cracker jacks off of the second one and eating them later, which was a much better experience. This monstrous medley is the craziest thing I've ever seen at a stadium -- truly a nightmare food in concept, and (I predict) the only time I will dedicate an entire paragraph in one of these posts to a food item. In all, Kauffman Stadium is a neat place to watch baseball. Lovecraftian food aside, the backdrop is calming and easy on the eyes, the stadium itself has a lot of good and distinct elements going for it such as the scoreboard and waterfalls, and the concourses are walkable without too much congestion. I very much liked visiting here and would jump at the opportunity to watch a game here if I find myself in Kansas City once again.