---
type: story
title: "Grand Prairie's Dirty Secret"
description: >
  The home of MLC has a consensus: bowl first. Across 43 matches and 3 seasons, the data says
  that consensus is wrong. The San Francisco Unicorns figured it out before anyone else did.
tags:
  - MLC
  - venue
  - toss
  - batting
  - bowling
status: active
last_verified: 2026-06-23
timestamp: 2026-06-23
license: CC-BY-4.0
source_system: CricketStudio
source_boundary: derived_claims_only
canonical_page: https://okf.cricketstudio.ai/stories/grand-prairie-dirty-secret/
resource: https://okf.cricketstudio.ai/stories/grand-prairie-dirty-secret/
entity_id: cricketstudio:story:grand-prairie-dirty-secret
dataset_version: 2026-06-11
provenance:
  source: CricketStudio aggregation of Cricsheet CC BY 3.0 (cricsheet.org) — MLC 2023–2025, Grand Prairie Stadium
  confidence: high
  notes: >
    All figures derived from 43 MLC matches at Grand Prairie Stadium (formally Toyota Stadium,
    Frisco, TX) across the 2023, 2024, and 2025 MLC seasons. Win rates are per team across their
    total appearances at the venue. Chase success rate computed as (matches won batting second) /
    (total matches with a result). All from CricketStudio derived-claim layer.
related:
  - ../scorebook/mlc/venues/grand-prairie-stadium.md
  - ../research/toss-effect-mlc.md
  - ../scorebook/teams/san-francisco-unicorns.md
  - ../dossier/mlc-grand-prairie-venue.md
---

# Grand Prairie's Dirty Secret

## The Question Nobody Asked

Is MLC's most-used venue being played correctly?

Grand Prairie Stadium (formerly Toyota Stadium, Frisco, TX) is the closest thing MLC has to a home ground. It has hosted more MLC matches than any other venue across the league's first three seasons.

So it should be the most understood venue in North American T20 cricket. It is not.

## What the Data Says

**Grand Prairie Stadium — 43 MLC matches, 2023–2025:**

- Toss winners chose to bowl first: **33 of 43 (76.7%)**
- First-innings average: **177**
- Second-innings average: **160**
- Chase success rate: **48.8%** (21 of 43)

**San Francisco Unicorns at Grand Prairie:**

- 15 innings played at the venue
- 10 wins — the best win rate among all franchises at this ground

## The Wow

Teams arrive at Grand Prairie and do what they always do: win the toss and bowl. Three seasons in, 76.7% of captains have made the same call.

The venue disagrees. The team batting first scores 17 runs more on average. Chasing sides win less than half the time. The "bowl first" consensus is built on T20 instinct — dew, conditions, knowing a target — not on Grand Prairie's own numbers.

The San Francisco Unicorns appear to have worked this out. They have the best win record at a venue where most teams come to set up a bowl-first template. Whether that is from reading the data, home advantage, or squad depth is not determinable from match outcomes alone — but the pattern holds across three seasons.

## What It Doesn't Say

This story does not prove that bowling first at Grand Prairie always loses. Chase success at 48.8% means chasing sides won 21 of 43 matches. It is a tendency, not a rule.

Average scores may reflect lineup strength and match context more than pitch conditions alone. Grand Prairie may have used different strips across seasons, and pitch evolution within matches is not captured in innings averages.

The Unicorns' record at the venue could reflect squad quality and scheduling factors, not tactical acumen. Forty-three matches is a meaningful sample for a 3-year-old league — but it is not 500 matches.

## Related Concepts

- [Grand Prairie Stadium](../scorebook/mlc/venues/grand-prairie-stadium.md)
- [Toss Effect — MLC](../research/toss-effect-mlc.md)
- [San Francisco Unicorns](../scorebook/teams/san-francisco-unicorns.md)
- [MLC Grand Prairie venue dossier](../dossier/mlc-grand-prairie-venue.md)
