The players always get the best seats in the house, and never has that been more true than this year at Fenway Park, where the home and visiting team dugouts got bigger during the offseason.
“We got sick of Dustin Pedroia yapping at us that we needed more room down there,’’ joked Boston Red Sox president Sam Kennedy.
The roomier dugouts were among $10 million in improvements that the team highlighted Thursday during a tour of the 105-year-old ballpark with Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh.
The Red Sox home opener is set for Monday afternoon against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Since 2002, the team said, it has spent more than $300 million on improving Fenway, which engineers and architects believe is viable for at least another 30 to 40 years.
“It’s really become a jewel in the city and a jewel in Major League Baseball,’’ Kennedy said. “Fenway Park is who we are. It’s part of our DNA.’’
Walsh sat in the expanded dugouts with team officials and later called it the highlight of his visit. Moving the front rails forward by three feet added extra space for equipment and improved sight lines from the benches and seating areas, the Red Sox said.
The change also let the team add 124 new seats from home plate to each dugout and behind the camera pits on the first and third base sides.
“Fans are going to get a chance to see their players more because they’re going to be up higher,’’ said Walsh, who also reminisced about the summer when he worked in Section 17 at Fenway. “I think it’s great.’’
Other changes include the addition of Tully Tavern, a bar area in the right field grandstand developed with Tullamore D.E.W. Irish whiskey; four new party suites; a video board in right field; and a 5,600-square-foot private event space called the Strega Deck.
The open-air deck was created through a partnership with Strega Ristorante in the North End.
Walsh was joined on his tour by the Red Sox’ principal owner, John W. Henry and Linda Pizzuti Henry, his wife. John Henry also owns The Boston Globe. Linda Henry is the Globe’s managing director.
Several rows of seats were removed to accommodate Tully Tavern, which includes swivel stools, tables, standing room, charging stations for electronics, and 64-inch televisions, the team said.
As a result, seating in the park dropped by more than 200 seats, according to figures provided by a Sox spokeswoman. The nighttime capacity for the coming season is 37,731 seats and daytime limit is 37,281 seats, figures show.
“On a net basis, the seat count will go down a little bit, but that’s OK. We like being the smallest venue in baseball,’’ Kennedy said.
Tickets prices for the 2017 season rose by an average of 2.9 percent. In some cases, the cost went up between $1 and $5, the team said.
Pesky Pole in right field underwent structural repairs to reinforce areas that had deteriorated and got a new paint job.
Walsh was the first to sign the refurbished pole. His message was simple: “Go Sox!’’
Now on to the food.
Fenway Franks top the menu as usual, but concessionaire Aramark is making a lot of room for lobster. Ron Abell, senior executive chef at the park, said lobster will be served at every game under a new partnership with Yankee Lobster Co. in the Seaport.
Laura Crimaldi can be reached at laura.crimaldi@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @lauracrimaldi.
