Double headers at The Dome are very good

As a Blue Jays fan that lives in the Greater Toronto Area, I’ve never been able to go to a doubleheader. Of course, the roof is a luxury that we have, no matter what you think about the Dome or how it looks. We’re lucky to never face the disappointment that comes with a rain-postponed game. But because of that, we don’t get to experience the magic of planning a whole day at the ballpark for two games.

As we all know, Monday’s game was canceled due to a piece of ice crashing through the Rogers Centre roof, leading to a double dip for the Blue Jays Tuesday evening against the Royals. It was the first doubleheader held in Toronto since the 2001 season, where rain forced a Cleveland series north.

I immediately cleared all of my plans after the doubleheader was announced. Instead of being a productive adult on a weekday in April, I decided to immerse myself in baseball for seven plus hours, even if it was going to be alone. Besides, the Jays started well and the Royals are trash, right? I hopped on the TTC and made my way downtown just before the 3:07 first pitch in game one, and for the first time, you couldn’t tell that a Blue Jays game was about to take place.

Usually before Jays games, a steady stream of blue blends in with the suits in the financial district as well as the students walking around. If you’re visiting the city and want to go to a game, a good rule of thumb – if you somehow can’t find the CN Tower – would be to follow the Jays jerseys. But on Tuesday afternoon, none of that was found.

Walking in to the stadium, the seats looked like a ghost town. Sitting up in the 500s, you could hear everything, including – I kid you not – hecklers and exactly what they were saying, even from the other side of the stadium. Seating arrangements were just a suggestion, and ushers were there just to make sure nobody got lost or decided to run onto the field, I guess. I lasted about half an inning until I wanted to be closer to the action on the field and not the ice falling from the CN Tower.

Everything was so chill that you could just sit in the infield seats. Yep, those expensive seats near the dugout were even fair game. No tickets were checked, nobody had any issues, it was like we were at a free public show. If you wanted it, you could sit right in one and nobody would give you a funny look. With what looked like less than 5000 there, you could have probably sat anywhere that wasn’t turf or another person’s lap. I walked right down and joined a friend that was so close, I’m sure we could have heard John Gibbons snoring if the Jays were getting blown out.

I thought that somebody would come and kick us out, but nobody did, and trust me, that view was pretty nice. We saw the Blue Jays thump the Royals in game one, 11-3. After the first win, everybody just…stayed where they were. It was hilarious to go from “win” mode to “oh shit, they’re about to play again” mode.

We were kicked out from our seats when the original ticket holder game during the fourth of the game two, but we just moved about 10 rows up and stayed there the rest of the game.

I thought sitting at a ballpark from 3:00-10:30 would have been a bit snooze-worthy, but in the end, my only complaint was being forced to buy Rogers Centre food for dinner, and that could have been avoided by actually bringing something myself.

I paid $13 to watch two Major League Baseball games in prime seats. It also helped that the Jays took both games and Luke Maile was a fucking star.

Doubleheaders are fun!