Baseball dugouts sit below field level primarily so that spectators seated behind them can see the playing field. When the bench area is at ground level, players standing or sitting on it block the view of fans in the lower rows, especially their sightline to home plate. Sinking the dugout a few feet into the ground solves this problem neatly, keeping the team accessible to the action while keeping them out of everyone’s way.
The Sightline Problem That Started It All
In the early days of professional baseball, seating areas were often built high enough that the team bench could sit right at field level without causing issues. Photos from 1905 at West Side Park in Chicago show a ground-level bench along the sideline. But as stadiums grew and more seats were added closer to the field, those benches became obstructions. Fans paying for seats behind the dugout couldn’t see home plate, the batter, or the umpire’s calls.
The fix was straightforward: dig the bench area down below the playing surface. This gave players the same proximity to the field while dropping their heads and shoulders below the sightline of seated fans. The term “dugout” itself comes from this design. It’s literally dug out of the ground.
Player Safety and Field Protection
Beyond sightlines, a sunken dugout keeps players physically separated from the field of play. Line drives, foul balls, and wild throws travel at dangerous speeds. A recessed dugout with a protective roof lip gives players and coaches a buffer zone they wouldn’t have if the bench were at field level. The roof overhang, which MLB rules require on all dugouts, adds another layer of protection from foul balls arcing back toward the sideline.
The recessed design also prevents interference with live play. Fielders chasing foul balls near the dugout have a clearer path along the warning track, and the sunken walls create a natural boundary. MLB rules even address what happens when a fielder tumbles into the dugout while making a catch, which speaks to how clearly that boundary functions during games.
A Modest Cooling Effect
Being partially underground does offer a small thermal advantage, especially in hot-weather stadiums. Soil temperature a few feet below the surface stays more stable than the air above it. At about 10 feet deep, ground temperature holds roughly constant year-round, close to the area’s average annual air temperature. Dugouts aren’t anywhere near 10 feet deep, but even a few feet of earth contact provides some insulation from the blazing surface heat of a midsummer afternoon.
This isn’t dramatic cooling. Research from the University of Florida found that air channeled through underground tunnels could drop temperatures from 90°F to around 80°F to 83°F. A dugout isn’t an underground tunnel, but the same principle applies on a smaller scale: the surrounding soil absorbs some heat. Combined with the shade from the dugout roof, the below-ground position makes a noticeable difference for players sitting in 95-degree heat for three hours. Most modern stadiums supplement this with fans, misters, or air conditioning built into the dugout structure.
What MLB Rules Actually Require
Interestingly, MLB’s official rules say very little about dugout depth or how far below grade they need to be. Rule 2.05 requires that each team’s bench sit at least 25 feet from the base lines, that it be roofed, and that it be enclosed at the back and ends. That’s essentially it for construction specifications. The rules don’t mandate that the dugout be sunken at all.
In practice, every major league stadium builds its dugouts below field level because the sightline and safety benefits are too significant to ignore. But the below-ground design is a product of convention and practical engineering, not a formal rule. Some amateur and college fields still use at-grade or slightly raised dugouts, particularly where budgets or soil conditions make excavation impractical.
The Tradeoff: Drainage
The biggest downside of a sunken dugout is water. Any recessed structure acts as a basin during rain, and dugout flooding creates genuinely hazardous conditions for players and staff. Wet concrete steps, standing water around electrical equipment, and slippery floors are all real concerns.
To manage this, stadiums install channel drain systems along the dugout floor and perimeter, often connected to sump pumps that move water away from the structure. These systems need regular maintenance, and heavy downpours can still overwhelm them temporarily. It’s one of the ongoing engineering costs of a design choice that otherwise serves the game well. The drainage infrastructure in a major league dugout is more complex than most fans would guess, running beneath the floor and connecting to the stadium’s broader stormwater system.