COBB COUNTY, Ga. — SunTrust Park, the still-under-warranty home of the Atlanta Braves, presents a simple truth: you can have one hell of a fine time here without ever seeing a single live pitch. Whether that fills you with excitement or regret probably depends on how old you were the first time you brought your smartphone to a ballgame.

There’s no doubt that SunTrust Park, which opens for regular-season duty Friday, is a beautiful facility. Brickwork, forest-green seats and navy blue accents highlight impeccable sightlines and an intimate feel; if it’s not already the ideal image of a ballpark, it’s going to be in the conversation.

But this is also a shrine to Brands as well as Braves, a place where every delight has its price, a place where there’s always a little bit better time waiting on the next level … if you’re willing to pay up. It’s also impossible to even consider SunTrust Park without considering the conditions under which it was born … and the conditions which you’ll endure getting here.

Still, in these turbulent and negative times, let’s go positivity-first. For its most obvious purpose — giving baseball fans an opportunity to watch baseball — this is a damn near flawless facility. SunTrust Park seats 41,149, roughly a 20 percent drop from Turner Field’s capacity. The seats are terraced in five sections rather than three, with the net result being fewer seats tucked under overhangs and more seats closer to the field. Where many stadiums have rows of seats that extend outward from the field into infinity, the terraces at SunTrust Park form more of an enclosing wall. If and when the Braves can rally their fans, they’ll have a hell of a home-field advantage. (Until then, Cubs, Red Sox and Yankees bandwagoners will have the run of the joint.)

View photos SunTrust Park is ready for its close-up. (Yahoo Sports) More

SunTrust Park features Braves history around every turn, from the bat Hank Aaron used to hit home run No. 715 to the brace Sid Bream wore as he trundled around third base to win the 1992 National League Championship Series. Braves players must pass the long list of Gold Glove and Silver Slugger winners. There’s even a Braves alumni lounge tucked away on the suite level, where the many former Braves who live in the area can hang out when they’re in the park. Current players get the luxury of theater seating, wide lockers and a pool table in their clubhouse. The team takes care of its own.

The team takes care of its field, too; we’re a long way from the days when the Braves had to share a stadium with the Falcons, the occasional soccer club, and whatever turf-shredding motocross event came to town while the ballclub was on a road trip. The grass resembles the greens at Augusta National; the infield dirt is as delicate as Himalayan salt. You cringe at the thought of the first pitcher scuffing up the mound, the first baserunner carving a trench en route to second base.

There are fun quirks beyond, as well. My personal favorite: the strip of brick wall that runs above the padding along the right-field fence. It’ll require right fielders to play NASA scientist on the fly, judging the angle and velocity of fly balls and either reel in the highlight catch or risk a bases-clearing carom off the bricks. You can imagine that fence coming into play on a chilly October night, a highlight that hasn’t happened for a playoff-level team that doesn’t yet exist.

But this place does that to you. SunTrust Park isn’t authentic — no stadium that’s younger than the milk in your fridge could be “authentic” — but it gives such a convincing appearance of authenticity that you feel like you’ve been here before. Start with the fact that this place bears more than a passing resemblance to the joint it’s replacing, from the brick façade to the color scheme to the locations of some key holdover clubs and brands. It’s as if Turner Field lost a few pounds, hit the gym, had a bit of work done and moved out to the suburbs.

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