Why Did They Boo Juan Soto?

And Other Observations From Houston’s Daikin Park

Hello, my name is Taryn, and I have a baseball addiction. (Hi Taryn!)

My husband, Ed, and I attend about 30 games on average per season. Not only do I go to Citi Field, I attend several road games as well.

I’ve been to Houston’s ballpark (formerly Minute Maid, now Daikin) for six games where the Mets were the visiting team. My record: 2-4. (The Mets are 2-12 in their last 14 games in Houston, to put things in perspective).

Having visited the current active 29 Major League Baseball stadiums (not counting the squatting-in-Sacramento Athletics stadium), Daikin is certainly in my totally unbiased opinion easily in the top half of my favorite stadiums to visit; and possibly in my unofficial Top 10. (Citi Field likely ranks somewhere #7 or #8, to put to rest any theories that the Mets’ home ballpark is my basis of comparison for great stadiums. That would be PNC Park, if you were curious).

Without further ado, here are some thoughts on Daikin Park.

Objectively, it’s a great place to watch a baseball game. Famously, Daikin has a retractable roof. For the record, I have never seen a game where the roof was open. Houston’s infamous swamp-heat humidity (and unpredictable precipitation patterns) leads to this roof being pretty handy to avoid weather-related delays and cancellations.

Climate control is an interesting phenomenon in closed stadiums. Humans, and their 98.6 degree temperatures, can make concourses very warm so it’s not very effective in that circumstance. To avoid that discomfort, my suggestion would be to grab a beer and head to your seats first. When the concourses empty as the game starts, that’s when you make your move for food.

Visiting other baseball cities, you learn the local charms. For example, Baltimore and its “Charm City” is focused on Maryland crab and Old Bay seasoning. Kansas City is known for its great barbecue. One would expect their stadiums to offer those food items, and if they get the little local flairs “wrong,” then it takes away from the overall charm from the stadium. As a result, Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium is one of my personal favorite stadiums to visit because they get the little things right about local flair. The bests stadiums tend to also get those little things right.

Daikin Park is no exception. Houston is known for its Tex-Mex, good brews and margaritas. I can personally confirm their ballpark nachos are the type I wish I could get at every stadium.

The food options are plentiful and very good (they even have a Shake Shack for you burger lovers), and here is a picture of their Kickin Green Chicken Nachos. You may take a moment to stop drooling.

In six games, I’ve sat in several sections. In the upper bowl behind home plate, club seats in the middle level (with air conditioned lounge areas), the bleachers, behind the visiting dugout on the third base side, and most recently a mere 20+ rows behind home plate.

Daikin Park also has several spots open for standing room areas. The higher volume games (like Opening Day) have many standing room areas at full capacity. That said, it was fairly easy to navigate. Outside of the tip top last row of the upper bowl, there is probably not a bad seat in the house. I would recommend for those of you who are “heat challenged” (like me), sitting further down in the upper deck. The higher you go…the heat rises. And it is hot in Houston. ‘Nuff said.

As far as fan experiences go, like many stadiums, you get your fair share of dummies who like to heckle out-of-town fans. For the most part, Houston Astros fans have been some of the most gracious, friendly, hospitable and always curious about “where you’re from” and how their stadium ranks amongst our own home field (honest opinion: they’re fairly comparable). Food and beverage options have the slighter edge at Citi; however, Daikin is located in an incredibly walkable downtown area with lots to do around the stadium.

As for the games that kicked off MLB’s Opening weekend, the Mets went 1-2, and 1-1 in the games we attended. (Shameless Plug: please read Brian’s post from today about the Five Things that stood out about the Mets this series.)

But the one question I’ve gotten from people who knew I took the road trip was this:

“Why are they booing Juan Soto in Houston?”

As far as Mets’ debuts go, Soto did a fine job of setting expectations for 2025. In nine at-bats, he has a .333 average, including his first official Mets home run (that was a no doubter bomb). Interestingly enough, he walked four times in 14 plate appearances, so he’s making the most of his PAs in this young season. Perhaps most visibly, he struck out to end the game on Thursday, when the Mets were rallying.

I often like to say, if you’re looking at the last at-bat as a failure of the game, there were likely many other lost opportunities we are forgetting. Case in point: The Mets offense has started off abysmally this season. Save stringing together a few opportunities to score, and their strong starters and bullpen, this could have easily been a sweep by Houston… or 2-1 in Mets’ favor had they scored just one more run here or there. It’s the opening series. Take a breath. Plenty of baseball left to play.

So was Soto’s hot start the reason for the boo-birds? Of course not.

Soto just signed the richest contract in baseball. We can probably bet he’ll be booed in several stadiums (especially the two in New York City…) as large contracts like this make him a target. See: Rodriguez, Alex.

I don’t believe I’ve seen this mentioned anywhere so I’ll take a stab as to why the normally hospitable Houstonians booed.

Remember the 2019 World Series? Soto’s team, the Washington Nationals, defeated the Houston Astros in seven games, and to add insult to injury, the Nats danced on the Astros’ lawn.

While pitcher Stephen Strasburg won the series MVP, Astros also lost due in part to Soto’s monster performance. His stat line was .333/.438/.741. In seven games, he hit 3 HRs and had 7 RBIs against the Astros.

I’m certain that series was the “one that got away” (besides the 1986 NLCS…) for the Houston Astros’ fan base. So yeah, I wonder if it’s a combination of contract optics and past performance of Soto being a postseason beast against a their team?

Overall, we love visiting Houston, their hospitable city and lovely stadium. But I gotta be honest: it’s always great to be home. And by “home,” I mean “Citi Field.”