Getting to T-Mobile Park

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T-Mobile Park sits in SoDo, just south of downtown Seattle, and you do not need a car to get there. The best option is Link light rail, Sound Transit’s light-rail line, which stops at Stadium station, about two blocks from the gates, and runs straight from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, so you can fly in and ride to the game with no transfer. (Sound Transit is the regional transit agency; the Link is its light rail.)

If you are coming from up or down the Puget Sound corridor, the Sounder commuter train runs to King Street Station on select game days. Rideshare is the easy backup, and driving works if you want it. Game-day lots have been running roughly $20 to $50, and SpotHero prices your exact date so you can lock a spot in advance. Also check for free rides, since past seasons have covered free Link rides for ticket-holders on selected dates.

The simplest way to decide is to look up T-Mobile Park in your maps app, starting from your hotel, and check the transit directions. It has the Link and Sounder schedules built in and will tell you in fifteen seconds what actually works from where you are.

Fares, lot rates, and gate times all change from season to season. Confirm the ones your plan depends on at soundtransit.org and mlb.com/mariners.

Link light rail

For a visitor based downtown, near the airport, or anywhere along the line, take the Link light rail. The 1 Line runs between Lynnwood and Federal Way and stops at Stadium station, about two blocks from the gates; the International District/Chinatown station is also a short walk. The same line connects Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) directly to the stadium area with no transfer. The 2 Line now runs all the way from Lynnwood to Downtown Redmond across I-90, and it stops at International District/Chinatown on every trip, so the Eastside and the north end both transfer to the 1 Line at one station.

Fares and how to pay

The Link fare is cheap and flat. A one-way adult ride is $3 regardless of distance, and riders 18 and under ride free on Sound Transit. You pay one of three ways:

• An ORCA card (it stands for One Regional Card for All, the regional transit fare card). Buy one at a station machine or load it in the myORCA app.
• The Transit GO Ticket app, which sells a ticket on your phone.
• Contactless tap-to-pay: you can tap a contactless Visa, Mastercard, American Express, or Discover card, or Apple, Google, or Samsung Pay, right at the ORCA reader. For a visitor, this is the one to use, because there is no card to buy and no app to set up.

The last train

For a night game, plan around the last southbound train, the one toward the airport and Federal Way. On Sound Transit’s 1 Line schedule, it leaves Stadium station after midnight Monday through Saturday nights, but on Sunday nights the last one leaves before midnight, so check the schedule for your game date. Trains heading north toward downtown and Lynnwood run on their own times, which are on the same schedule. If the game runs too late for the last train, take a rideshare from the Mariners’ lot southeast of the ballpark.

Free rides with a game ticket (when offered)

Past seasons have covered free Link rides for fans with a game ticket on selected dates, running on stretches of the schedule and on designated value games rather than every game. The window changes year to year. Check the Mariners’ promotions page for your date, and treat the ride as a bonus rather than part of the budget.

The Sounder and regional rail

If you are coming from up or down the Sound, the Sounder commuter train runs special game-day service to King Street Station, within walking distance of the park, on select games from as far as Everett to the north and Lakewood and Tacoma to the south. It runs only for certain games, so check the schedule for your date. It is also thinner on the way home than the Link is, because game trains run to a set post-game departure rather than all evening, so find your return time before you plan the night around it.

Rideshare

The Mariners run a designated rideshare lot southeast of the ballpark and put it at under 5 minutes from most gates, so set that as your pickup and drop-off point rather than trying to meet a driver at a curb outside a gate.

After the game, the whole ballpark empties at once. If you are leaving right away, head to the Mariners’ rideshare lot. If you would rather stay a while, stop at The Boxyard or a Pioneer Square bar and request your ride from there when you leave. You can find more about The Boxyard and the Pioneer Square bars in our Around the Park section. If Lumen Field has an event the same night, the whole district competes for the same cars and the same lots, so give yourself more room than the app suggests.

Driving and parking

Driving makes sense if you are staying off an easy Link connection or you want to leave on your own clock.

• Mariners Garage: across Edgar Martinez Drive South from the ballpark, the closest option to the gates, and covered. It is cashless (credit, debit, or mobile pay only), and it takes a valid parking pass on game days. Guaranteed garage access is only sold to fans who buy their tickets directly from Mariners.com, so if you bought anywhere else, reserve something in advance instead of counting on driving up.
• Lumen Field Garage: just north on South Royal Brougham Way, and it has been running around $10 to $50 depending on what else is on the calendar in the district.
• Private SoDo lots and garages: scattered through the blocks south and east of the park, and the cheapest way in if you are willing to walk. Game-day parking across the district has been running roughly $20 to $50, and SpotHero will price your actual date.

With any of them, the drawback tends to be the crawl out of the district after the last out. If you are driving, parking farther out and walking a few blocks usually beats fighting for the closest garage exit.

SpotHero for a spot in advance

SpotHero prices your exact date and time, which is the only way to find out what a SoDo lot costs on a Tuesday in April versus a Saturday with an event at Lumen Field, and the Mariners point fans to it for booking parking in advance. SpotHero is a parking-reservation app, and you can pick a downtown or SoDo lot, pay for it ahead of time, and drive straight there on game day. Prices vary by event, so check live.

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When to drive

• You are staying outside the city or off an easy Link connection.
• You’d rather not watch the clock for the last train.
• Your Seattle plans already include a rental car.
• You are four or five adults splitting a lot near the $20 end of that range, where the split lands close to the $6 round-trip train fare each.

With kids along, the train wins outright. Riders 18 and under ride free on Sound Transit, so no lot beats it.

Getting here from the airport

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) is on the same Link 1 Line that stops at the ballpark, so you can ride from the airport to the game with no transfer. Get off at Stadium station or International District/Chinatown station, and the Mariners say both are a short walk from the ballpark. According to the airport, the light rail ride between the airport and downtown Seattle takes 38 minutes.

From baggage claim, go up to the 4th floor and cross the skybridge to the parking garage, then follow the signs to SeaTac/Airport station. If you would rather not walk, the airport says you can take the free Train-to-Plane shuttle instead. A one-way Link fare is as low as $3 for an adult, and Sound Transit lets riders 18 and under ride free. You can pay with a contactless card, an ORCA card, or the Transit GO Ticket app. The Mariners say trains run every 8, 10, or 15 minutes, depending on the time of day.

Heading back after a night game. Before you count on the last southbound train toward the airport, look up your game date on Sound Transit’s 1 Line schedule, because the times can change. On Monday through Friday nights, it leaves Stadium station at 12:39 am and reaches SeaTac/Airport at 1:09 am. On Saturday nights, it leaves at 12:42 am and reaches the airport at 1:12 am. On Sunday nights, it leaves much earlier, at 11:54 pm, and reaches the airport at 12:24 am. The same trains stop at International District/Chinatown station 3 minutes before they reach Stadium.

Rideshare and taxi. At the airport, Uber and Lyft pick up on the 3rd floor of the parking garage. To get there, cross one of the skybridges that sit a level below ticketing and a level above baggage claim, then go down one level. Taxis wait on the 3rd floor of the garage too, along the north and south curbs. For the ride from the ballpark to the airport after the game, the Mariners ask rideshare riders to use their lot southeast of the ballpark, and there is a taxi stand at the northwest corner of First Avenue South and South Royal Brougham Way, in front of the Silver Cloud Hotel.

If you would rather drive from the airport, compare the Mariners Garage and the SoDo lots before you land.

If everything you are carrying fits the Mariners’ bag rules, ride the Link from the airport straight to the game. With a suitcase, sort out where to leave it before you board, because the Mariners do not let luggage in.

Luggage

The Mariners do not offer bag storage at T-Mobile Park, and they do not check coats or personal items such as backpacks or purses. Luggage and duffle bags of any kind are on the Mariners’ list of prohibited items, so a suitcase will not get in, whatever its size.

The bags the Mariners allow in are a clear bag, a one-gallon clear zip-top, or a small clutch or fanny pack.

Radical Storage holds bags at Smith Tower, 109 Occidental Ave S, for as low as $6 a bag per day, plus a $1.99 protection fee per bag. Its weekday listing shows hours of 10 am to 9 pm, which covers a day game but not a night game.

At the airport, Smarte Carte stores bags on the baggage claim level, between Carousels 9 and 10. The airport lists its hours as 7 am to 10 pm daily, with half-hour closures at 11:30 am and 6 pm. That works on the day you fly home after a day game, because you can leave your suitcase there, ride the Link to the game, and pick it up on the way to your flight. Smarte Carte says the TSA requires a search of every bag before it is stored, so leave time for that when you drop it off. To ask about the price, call Smarte Carte at (206) 248-3645.

Neither one stays open late enough to count on after a night game, so on a night-game day, take the suitcase to your hotel first, and if you get there before check-in, leave it with the front desk.

Gates

The gates are the Home Plate Gate, the Left Field Gate, the Right Field Gate, the Center Field Gate, and the T-Mobile Member Gate. Coming off the Link at Stadium station, you will walk up toward the closest of these; the Right Field Gate opens straight onto the main concourse without a flight of stairs.

Gate opening times

Most gates open 90 minutes before first pitch, though special dates can move that. The two gates serving The ‘Pen (the Center Field Gate and the T-Mobile Member Gate) open 2 hours before, so those are the gates to use if you want to get in early and grab The ‘Pen. The Left Field Gate opens 2.5 hours before and closes at the end of the 4th inning.

Bag check

Every gate has metal-detector screening and a clear-bag rule, so sort your bag out before you leave the hotel rather than at the turnstile. The limits are 12 by 6 by 12 inches for a clear bag or a one-gallon clear zip-top, and 4.5 by 6.5 for a clutch or fanny pack, with medical items and a single-compartment diaper bag exempt when the child is with you. Backpacks do not get in, and the Mariners say they do not offer storage and do not check coats or personal items such as backpacks or purses, so anything oversized goes back to the car or the hotel. Wheelchairs and other mobility devices are the exception, and the Mariners say those may be stored at the Guest Service Centers at Sections 128 and 329. You can find more about the bag policy in our First-Timer Guide section.

Know T-Mobile Park better than we do? Tell us what we got wrong, or where we should be sending people instead.

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