Must Be on the Front Row

I'm a sucker for satellite photography, meaning that I'm utterly addicted to the new feature at Google Maps which allows you to zoom down to near street level to check out the rooftops of many of your favorite neighborhoods.  So as I was preparing my now overdue 2005 Major League Baseball predictions, I couldn't help but combine this new addiction with an old one.  Instead of a boring old link to the team's homepage, which if you're interested in this you should already know how to find, I'm providing you with a satellite image of the team's stadium.  By the way, if you're the betting kind, this is more than likely a primer for which team to bet against as I'm almost never right (except for the Braves, of course):

N.L. East
Turner Field -- Atlanta Braves
Dolphin Stadium -- Florida Marlins
Citizens Bank -- Philadelphia Phillies*
Shea Stadium -- New York Mets
RFK -- Washington Nationals

N.L. Central
Busch Stadium -- St. Louis Cardinals
Wrigley Field -- Chicago Cubs
Minute Maid Park -- Houston Astros
Great American Ballpark -- Cincinnati Reds**
Miller Park -- Milwaukee Brewers**
PNC Park -- Pittsburgh Pirates

N.L. West
Petco Park -- San Diego Padres*
Dodger Stadium -- L.A. Dodgers
Bank One Ballpark -- Arizona Diamondbacks
SBC Park -- San Francisco Giants
Coors Field -- Colorado Rockies

A.L. East
Yankee Stadium -- New York Yankees
Fenway Park -- Boston Red Sox
Camden Yards -- Baltimore Orioles
Skydome -- Toronto Blue Jays
Tropicana Field -- Tampa Bay Devil Rays

A.L. Central
U.S. Cellular Field - Chicago White Sox
Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome -- Minnesota Twins
Jacobs Field -- Cleveland Indians
Comerica Park -- Detroit Tigers
Kauffman Stadium -- Kansas City Royals

A.L. West
Angel Stadium - L.A. Angels
Ameriquest Field -- Texas Rangers
McAfee Coliseum -- Oakland Athletics
Safeco Field -- Seattle Mariners

Playoffs
NLDS: Braves over the Padres; Marlins (wildcard) over the Cardinals
NLCS: Marlins over the Braves

ALDS: Yankees over the White Sox; Angels over the Red Sox (wildcard)
ALCS: Angels over the Yankees

World Series
Angels over the Marlins

* Stadium still under construction at time of photo.
**Satellite photo unavailable for close viewing. 

Comments

[Robin]

A group of us at work spent half an hour playing with the maps yesterday afternoon. Reminded me of when terraserver first came online.

[Geoff]

Sweet. Here is the Diamond at Lake Elsinore:

http://tinyurl.com/3tcb8

Somebody needs to do this for the Cal League. Hmmm, I feel a project coming on...

[My Brilliant Mistakes]

I realize the Pirates aren't very good these days, but did you have to add insult by linking to Milwaukee instead of Pittsburgh?

The right link is http://maps.google.com/maps?q=pittsburgh&ll=43.028212,-87.970877&spn=0.040598,0.063343&t=k&hl=en

It's a nice, clear shot of both PNC Park and Heinz Field -- both great places to watch games. Right now the parking area between the parks is full of Cirque du Soleil tents -- also great to watch, now that I think about it.

[Jeff]

Thanks for pointing this out, Cindy. I have fixed it. The relink thing is quite tricky; I assure you I wouldn't confuse the two cities.

Geoff, sounds like you just planned my afternoon.

[stick in the mud]

very impressive use of the official stadium names. if you knew these all off the dome, you are quite possibly the most american of all bloggers, demonstrating equal knowldedge of both the national pastime and capitalism run wild. except for picking the royals last. for shame.

[Jeff]

Stick, I had no idea some of the stadiums had changed names. For accuracy of reporting, I used mlb.com.

As for the Royals, what can I say? They have a nice stadium.