The best baseball cities to book an MLB road trip

With baseball season underway, and the weather getting warmer, now is the time to start thinking about summer vacations, and what better way to spend a summer vacation than taking a road trip to see your hometown baseball team play a road game.

Hotels.com, along with SeatGeek, did some analysis to find the best cities to catch a game this summer. Their formula was based off a number of things including ticket availability and value, as well as the actual city destination with value and availability of hotels taken into account.

“A growing trend is when travelers use sports to fuel vacation plans,” said Taylor L. Cole, a travel expert at Hotels.com. “Whether that means visiting a historic sports landmark with your family, attending a championship game or simply watching your favorite team play on the road, sports travel has become hugely popular. But beyond cheering on their favorite team, travelers shouldn’t forget to explore all the great sites and gems these sports cities have to offer.

“Using 2015 ticket data from SeatGeek and insights from the Hotels.com Hotel Price Index, we analyzed how each baseball team ranked in the categories of average ticket price, ticket popularity, destination popularity and average hotel price,” Cole added. “We then assigned a weighted value to each team within each category to come up with a total composite score to determine the best cities.”

The formula concluded thatthe two top road cities in the league are Los Angeles and Atlanta. The Phillies take on the Dodgers in LA July 6-9, while the Mets play the Dodgers in the series before, July 3-5.

“LA has a lot more to offer than its Hollywood attractions and proximity to sunny beaches,” said Cole. “Downtown LA’s music scene, with historic venues and vintage record shops, has been a driving force of the area’s revival. LA is also home to some of the most innovative and talked about cuisine in the country.”

The Dodgers also feature some of biggest stars in the game in Clayton Kershaw and Yasiel Puig.

When it comes to Atlanta and seeing the Braves, the Yankees will travel to Atlanta Aug. 28-30 and the Red Sox will go there earlier in the summer, June 17-18.

“Atlanta is rich with history with notable parks and museums,” Cole said. “It’s also been the filming location for a number of movies and TV shows, which has given way to popular tours for fans. And ‘Hotlanta’ has a great culinary scene that was recently recognized among the country’s best by Thrillist and Time.”

Closing out the top five in the formula were Washington, Detroit and Colorado. The Yankees finished T-16 and the Mets T-22, while the Phillies were No. 20 and the Red Sox T-22. These cities were so high because of their pricey tickets, as well as their pricey hotels.

With all the legwork completed, all that is left to do is to book the trip and enjoy a baseball summer vacation.

Best Mets Road Games

@ LA Dodgers July 3-5 (ranked #1)

@ Colorado August 21-23 (ranked #5)

@ Cincinnati September 24-27 (ranked #6)

@ Milwaukee June 23-25 (ranked #9)

@ St. Louis July 17-19 (ranked #11)

Best Yankees Road Games

@ Atlanta August 28-30 (ranked #2)

@ Washington May 19-20 (ranked #3)

@ Detroit April 21-23 (ranked #4)

@ Texas July 27-30 (ranked #6)