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Getting to T-Mobile Park

Getting to T-Mobile Park

The quick read

T-Mobile Park sits in SoDo, just south of downtown Seattle, and it is one of the easier ballparks in the country to reach without a car. The best option is Link light rail, Sound Transit’s light-rail line: it stops at Stadium station, about two blocks from the gates, and it 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, with parking running roughly $20 to $50 and SpotHero the simplest way to lock a spot in advance. One nice perk to check: on select dates the Mariners cover free Link rides for ticket-holders.

One thing beats all of this: drop “T-Mobile Park” into your maps app with your hotel as the start and switch to 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 shift year to year. Give anything time-sensitive below a quick check against soundtransit.org or mlb.com/mariners before you build a plan around it.

Check your own trip in the maps app

Start here. Type “T-Mobile Park” into Apple Maps or Google Maps, set your hotel as the start, and switch the directions to transit. Both apps have the Link and Sounder schedules built in, so they stitch the legs together and give you the real time and cost from your exact starting point. From most of downtown it will tell you to take the Link or just walk. From farther out it sorts the Link-versus-rideshare question faster than any guide can.

For a visitor based downtown, near the airport, or anywhere along the line, the Link light rail is the easiest way to the park. The 1 Line stops at Stadium station, about two blocks from the gates, and 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.

Fares and how to pay

The Link fare is cheap and flat: a one-way adult ride is about $2 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: as of early 2026 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 simplest option, no card or app to set up.

Free rides with a game ticket (when offered)

On select dates the Mariners cover free Link rides for fans with a game ticket. It is real but date-limited (it has run on stretches of the schedule and on designated value games, not every game), and the window changes year to year. If your game is on the list, it is a free, easy ride. Check the current promo before you count on it.

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 is game-specific service, not every game, so check the schedule for your date.

Rideshare

Rideshare is the easy backup when transit does not fit your night. For booking accuracy the Mariners suggest the routing address 1250 1st Avenue South; drop-off and pickup typically happen along Edgar Martinez Drive South or 1st Avenue South, and there is a dedicated ride-hailing lot on 3rd Avenue that opened in 2023.

The ride in is simple. The ride home is the part that catches people: when the park empties at once, the apps surge for the first 20 to 30 minutes after the last out. Two ways to handle it: walk a few blocks away from the gates before you request, since stepping outside the geofenced surge zone can drop the price, or post up at The Boxyard or a Pioneer Square bar for half an hour and let it fade. Those spots are in the around-the-ballpark guide.

Driving and parking

Driving is a real option, especially for a small group where per-person Link fares add up.

  • Mariners Garage: across Edgar Martinez Drive South from the ballpark, the most convenient option. It is cashless (credit, debit, or mobile pay only).
  • Lumen Field Garage: just north on South Royal Brougham Way, with rates cited around $10 to $50.
  • Numerous privately operated SoDo lots and garages round it out; game-day parking overall runs roughly $20 to $50.

The trade-off with any of them is the post-game crawl out of the district. 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

For a lot reserved ahead of time, SpotHero is the way to go, and the Mariners recommend it for booking parking outside the Mariners Garage. SpotHero is a parking-reservation app: you book a downtown or SoDo lot in advance, prepay in the app, and drive straight to it on game day. Prices vary by event, so check live.

How it works:

  1. Open the SpotHero app or the T-Mobile Park parking page.
  2. Enter your game date and time.
  3. Filter by walking distance, price, or covered versus open.
  4. Reserve and pay in the app.
  5. Show the digital pass at the lot entrance.

Heads up: the SpotHero link below is an affiliate link. If you book through it, we get a small cut at no extra cost to you. It doesn’t change what we recommend.

When driving is the right call

  • You are a group of three or more, where parking math beats per-person Link fares.
  • You are staying outside the city and outside an easy Link connection.
  • You want full flexibility on when you leave after the game.
  • You already have a rental car for the rest of your Seattle trip.

From the airport

Seattle-Tacoma International (SEA) is one of the easier airport-to-ballpark trips in the country: the Link 1 Line runs from the airport straight to the stadium area with no transfer, so you can land and ride to the game on the same train. A rideshare or cab from the terminal works too.

Gates

Go to whichever gate is closest to where you are coming from. That is the practical answer for almost everyone: your Link stop, your hotel, your lot, or the bar you were just at. You will burn more time hiking around the park to a “better” gate than you will save.

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

Gate opening times

Most gates open 90 minutes before first pitch. 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

T-Mobile Park runs a clear-bag policy with metal-detector screening at every gate: clear bags up to 12 by 6 by 12 inches (or a one-gallon clear zip-top), a small clutch or fanny pack up to 4.5 by 6.5 inches, and exceptions for medical items or a single-compartment diaper bag. Backpacks are not allowed, and there is no bag or coat check on site. The full policy and what you can carry in is in the first-timer’s guide.