Texas Rangers new stadium will have synthetic turf, per Evan Grant

Globe Life Field, the Texas Rangers’ new stadium opening in 2020, will have synthetic turf, according to Evan Grant, who says an announcement will be made today.

This is disappointing, but not surprising, as signs have been pointing this way for a while, with reports indicating that there were concerns about how well grass would be able to grow in the retractable roof stadium that is being built.

My preference is for grass, which I think is everyone’s preference. That said, I also am on board with a retractable roof stadium, and if synthetic turf is the price that has to be paid for that, well...I guess it depends on how the turf plays. The issues with artificial turf in the past have involved balls bounding differently than on grass, and with turf taking a greater physical toll on players than grass does. The new turf the Rangers will be installing supposedly addresses those issues. We shall have to wait and see.

UPDATE — Michael Young says not to freak out about the turf.