Photo Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Photo Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

We’re lucky here in Philadelphia. Our baseball team may be disappointing, depressing, and rage-inducing, but the game is still nice to look at due to — in my biased opinion — one of the best ballparks in the league. That is not the case, however, according to Nationals beat writer Mark Zuckerman, who placed CBP at #15 on his list of the best ballparks in the majors:

15. CITIZENS BANK PARK, Philadelphia
Opened: 2004
Capacity: 43,651
Comment: We’re now entering the indistinguishable middle of the pack. All of these ballparks have some similarities, none of them especially exciting. Call them the modern-day cookie cutters. Philadelphia has probably the best of this group, notable for the dark red brick and two-tiered bullpen behind the center-field fence. But there’s not a whole lot else that defines Citizens Bank Park. Aside from the Phanatic (who is great) and the local fan base (which is not).

Oh, yeah, Phils fans have nothing on those legendary, loyal Nationals fans. Zuckerman’s top 10 was pretty standard, with the top three spots going to the universally loved PNC Park, AT&T Park, and Camden Yards. The top ten are rounded out by the home fields of the Cubs, Padres, Mariners, Twins, Dodgers, Royals, and Red Sox.

Zuckerman doesn’t exactly love where his home team pays either, putting Nationals Park one spot behind CBP. Here’s what he says:

16. NATIONALS PARK, Washington
Opened: 2008
Capacity: 41,418
Comment: Look, you may not like or agree with this. Nationals Park, to its credit, is a very fan-friendly ballpark, with wide concourses and good field views from just about any seat. But it simply has no defining characteristic, no distinct charm. Think about it this way: What’s the first thing you think of when you think of Nationals Park? It’s tough to come up with something. The big video board? The Red Porch area? The cherry blossoms that bloom for only a week or so in early-April? The distant view of the Capitol dome from a handful of sections in the upper deck? I just wish there was something that stood about this place. A quirk in the outfield fence. A view of the Anacostia River. A view of more of the city. A unique bullpen. Something. Anything. Instead, we’re left with a very nice — but wholly indistinguishable — ballpark in the nation’s capital.

You can check out the rest of his list here, but it’s nice to know even a rival can admit CBP is at least the best park in the NL East. Additionally, only the O.co Coliseum (truly one of the worst buildings of any kind in all of America) ranks worst than that hellhole down in Tampa. And I don’t even know if I’d go that far.