This baseball trip we were about to embark on was a year and a half in the making, and we were anticipating it from Day 1! Its really hard for us to get to AL stadium's because the NL Central only plays the same AL division every 4 years, and some teams don't even have home games vs the Brewers. So when the 2021 baseball schedule came out in 2020, we saw that the Brewers had a road trip to Cleveland and then straight onto Detroit! We hilighted these dates right away because we had yet to get to these stadiums!
The time FINALLY came, and we had tickets to the Saturday and Sunday games in Cleveland, and both games in Detroit on Tuesday and Wednesday!
Gametime on Saturday wasn't until 6pm, so we decided to go to the NFL Hall of Fame first in Canton, which is only about an hour south of Cleveland! Ever since we moved to Ohio I've wanted to get here, so I was happy we could fit it into this trip!
The Hall of Fame was a self-guided tour much like the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame. The rooms were laid out nicely where they flowed into one another, starting with the origin of Football, all the way to current date. It was really fun to see that football started practically on the grounds of where I was currently standing!
Most people know that the Green Bay Packers were one of the first football teams in the league, so it was great to read about how they got their start, too!
We then entered rooms that featured real equipment through the years, as well and handprints from players to compare with our own hands, and how different quarterbacks have their own grip on footballs. It was really cool to see.
Interspersed throughout the HoF were interactive TV displays where you could chose your favorite teams and it would play clips of different plays throughout their history.
As we moved through the Hall, we came to my favorite room(s) where all the busts of each Hall of Famer were housed. From the very first inductee to the last, all the busts were categorized by the year they were enshrined. It was fun to find all the Packer busts! At the end of this display, they had a visual step-by-step process of how these busts were created. It seemed like a very in-depth process, but each bust looked very much like the real player!
When we bought our tickets when we got there, the lady said to be sure to go and watch the Superbowl video before we leave. So, as we were on our way to watch the SB video, this employee stopped us and told us that unless we want to watch 20 minutes of the Tom Brady show, don't bother with it! So, thanks guy for saving us 20 minutes of our life!
The Hall of Fame was pretty cool, but I would suggest pairing it with something else if you're in the area!
Our hotel in Cleveland was close to the lake, and we had a corner room overlooking both the city and the lake! The views were spectacular!
It was a simple hour drive up to Cleveland where we were staying for 1 night, 2 ballgames! I was excited to see the inside of Progressive Field! If you remember, on our way to Niagara Falls this past spring, we stopped in Cleveland for a night and walked around the ballpark! The inside did not disappoint! Their concourse was open to the field, and extremely wide, giving people plenty of space. The asthetics we very inviting too!
We made it to our seats on the 300 level and were surprised with the open air concept on the side opposite the field! On level 300, thry had picnic table near concessions that offered sweeping views of downtown and the freeways! Nicely done!
On this day, it was the 20th anniversary of September 11th, so I wore my United States of Baseball shirt, and they had a really nice ceremony on the field before and during the game!
The Brewers won this game 3-0 but no one is going to remember the score because this game was all about the man on the mound, as the Brewers pitched the 2nd no-hitter in franchise history!! Albeit a combined no-hitter with just 2 pitchers, it still counts! Our ace and huge Cy Young standout Corbin Burnes got the nod that night. And he was DEALING! His only blemish of the night was just 1 walk in the 7th inning! Wow! That was also the inning he had the most pitches. As the innings went on, Robbie and I turned to each other and said "he could really do this!" His pitch count per inning was really low, and he couldn't make a mistake if he tried. When he got to his troubled 7th inning, we said that he would probably be capped at 110 pitches total, so he really needed to watch his count. After the 7th, we were shocked that he came back out for the 8th, when he was already over 100 pitches! He ended his night with 115 pitches, a career high! Josh Hader, regarded as the best reliever and closer in baseball, came in and shut the door in the 9th! I couldn't believe it, and it didn't set in until later that night! For me, I get a different feeling when I'm at a historic game like that. If I was at home watching on TV, I would've been loud and boisterous, but in person, I was surprisingly calm in the 9th inning. And after the last pitch was thrown, I was in disbelief. I was so incredibly happy for Burnes because after the season he has been having, he absolutely deserved this no-hitter. And Josh Hader deserved to close it out! What an unbelievable night this was, and even more-so to have seen it in person!
Our hotel was within walking distance from the stadium, and we were amongst throngs of other very happy Brewers fans! When we got back to our hotel, we went to the rooftop bar to have a celebratory drink, still decked out in our Brewers stuff. We walked in and the first thing we heard was "Go Brewers" from a guy at the end of the bar. This is when the weight of the night started to sink in, and I got excited all over again! It will be a night we will never forget! I also took screenshots of our MLB.TV app of Burnes's stats, and also an article about the combined no-no!
It was hard for me to calm down that night, but eventually I did, and we were up for Sundays game before we knew it!
Before the game, we had a really good breakfast at a brunch spot downtown, then walked the rest of the way to the park. We were a little early for gates to open, so we walked the perimeter of the stadium to kill time. Sunday we had tickets behind the Brewers dugout, which was the perfect place to applaud them for last night's performance!
The Brewers exploded in this game, winning 11-1, and our starter for the day, Eric Lauer, had another no-hitter going into the 6th inning! Towards the end if the game, Robbie caught the ball that was thrown into the seats after Brewers reliever Aaron Ashby struck Miles Straw out on for the 3rd out! Cool!
It was THE BEST series in Cleveland, and I'm so grateful that we were able to see it in person. And to top it off, a few months later, the 2 pitchers who threw the combined no-hitter both won the 2021 Cy Young (Burnes) and Reliever of the Year (Hader)! Well deserved!
Right after this game we were off to Detroit to catch the 2-game series that the Tigers were playing against the Brewers! It was the most perfect road trip for the Crew, like it was tailor made for us! The trip to Detroit was quick, and we were there before sundown!
We ended up staying at the Detroit Marriott Renaissance Center. It was a series of 7 towers and is also the world headquarters of GM! It's right on the Detroit River, and we were lucky to get a room overlooking the river and into Canada. We were so close, yet so far. At the time we went, international travel into Canada and Mexico still wasn't allowed.
Monday was an off-day for the Brewers, so we had the whole day to ourselves. We found a scavenger hunt to do around the city, and we split it up into 2 days. We love doing things like this in new city's because we get to see landmarks we normally wouldn't otherwise! It was fun to see Detroit like this!
Monday night we went out to an old school steakhouse. There was a doorman at the entrance, and he said it was one of the oldest in the city, and there had been many deals made in that steakhouse between politicians, athletes and the like. If those walls could talk...! We then capped off the night by going down to the street level between our hotel and the river to see the view! Then, much to our surprise, there was a map of the world on the sidewalk depicting Magellan's journey! A great end to the night!
Tuesday was a low-key day with finishing our scavenger hunt, then taking it easy before the 7pm game. While we were in Cleveland, we got a suggestion for a pizza place to eat at called Buddy's. There were several locations in the city, including one right next to the ballpark, so we ate there beforehand and had some delicious and authentic Detroit style pizza!
Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers, is a cool park, starting from the exterior. The walls on either side of the entrance are lined with tiger heads, which are met in the middle with giant bats as you enter!
The interior is really pleasing as well. The concourse felt very old school, and it had some cool focal points like a carousel, and even Mickey Mouse. There were also lamp post poles throughout the concourse, and each one hilighted a different decade in the Tigers' history!
We had tickets in the 3rd level behind homeplate. We got these seats for a reason, and that was to see downtown, and that decision paid off! There's something about a ballpark with a skyline as the backdrop. I'm glad we got there early so I could soak it all in!
Freddy Peralta started this game and he was cruising into the 6th inning, giving up just 2 hits.
Then the rain started, and it kept coming! The tarp quickly came onto the field, and the fans were all asked to go into the concourse. This was serious rain, I'm talking rain coming down sideways, and it was torrential. Even the concourse wasn't safe, as the wind picked up and started blowing trash cans and condiment tubs right down the walkway! It reminded me of the time my brother and I were at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. We had to hide out in a vendor closet. In Detroit, we hid out in the team store. Eventually we got kicked our of the store and was told to head to the first level. They ultimately closed off all levels except for the first one. So, after an hour and 45 minute rain delay, we got to watch the rest of the game from a closer view!
As the game entered the 9th inning with no runs scores from either team, we had a sinking feeling that the Brewers were going to lose. And lose they did, in the bottom of the 11th, a final of 1-0. The Tigers just mustered 3 hits and managed to win the game. We were super disappointed that night because the Brewers just came off their best weekend series in Cleveland, scoring 24 runs in 3 games, and thus game, we couldn't get anyone beyond 2nd base. It was like we were watching a completely different team.
Wednesday was a day game that started at 1:10pm. Before Comerica, we went to the original Tigers Stadium, which was a few miles from the current one. The old stadium has been converted to a little league field, but it was fun, especially for Robbie, to imagine the stadium's energy as it was when the Tigers played there!
We got there early so we could watch warm-ups, and we got right up close! We were talking to a Tigers fan and I told him I worked for the Reds. He thought I worked in the front office, lol!!
Brandon Woodruff was on the mound, and he was perfect through the first 3 innings, even getting run support in the 2nd. Then the wheels fell off. After giving up a string of hits and a run, it kind of felt like our fate was sealed. We said we would stay through the 6th inning or until 3pm, whichever came first. It turned out that both things happened at about the same time, when the score was 3-1. We decided to hit the road at that point, as we were driving straight home after the game. It turned out that the Tigers scored 1 more run while the Brewers fell flat.
This fan had a Prince Fielder jersey as both a Brewer and Tiger!
On the way home, we were both dumbfounded with the 2 different teams we saw in each series. Between the end of that game and the end of the season, the Brewers only won 6 more games (in 16 games). Smh.
In all, it was a fun weekend, with Cleveland edging out Detroit, for obvious reasons. However, we did get to cross off 2 more new stadium's on the list, and now we are into the 20's, and it's a question of which stadium's we HAVENT been to!
Until next year, Brewers!
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