Baseball is coming back April 1, but if you’re a fan in Washington, D.C., Seattle, or Baltimore, the joke’s on you.
While most teams will have fans filling the stadium between 20% and 30% capacity, some cities are keeping the turnstiles locked. The District of Columbia rejected a request from the Washington Nationals to allow fans at their games. The Seattle Mariners and Baltimore Orioles are still waiting on word from their respective city officials on what they will be able to do.
Other fans will be fighting over even more limited seats, thanks to strict governors. The Detroit Tigers can only start the season with 1,000 fans in attendance by order of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer — she whose pandemic efforts included barring trips to fishing cabins or gardening aisles. While the San Francisco Giants can have 8,000 fans at Oracle Park, California’s tier system will limit the other four teams to 100 total fans, with no concessions open. That includes the Oakland Athletics, just across the bay from the Giants.
It’s almost inexplicable, over a full year out from the coronavirus first arriving in the United States. The Kansas City Chiefs opened the NFL season last August in front of 17,000 fans with no problems. NASCAR was the first sport to bring back fans last July, with roughly 20,000 in attendance.
Football fans (college and professional) attended games throughout the winter surge in cases, yet no outbreaks were tied to any games. Are baseball fans less hygienic? More likely, mayors and governors are just making a bad call.
