ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) – The major leagues plunged a little further into the waters of the threat calculated Monday night, inviting paying consumers through their doors, christening a stadium with two groups of remote countries and, perhaps, glimpsing life. minus one more season.
The first game in the National League Championship Series pitted the Atlanta Braves and los Angeles Dodgers against an organization completely absent from the baseball pandemic: fans.
With a capacity limited to 25% and tickets sold on 4-seat equipment with tied seats, a largely grateful crowd of enthusiasts walked through the doors of the $1. 1 billion Globe Life Field.
They’re here in a giant component because the state of Texas has it legal. Governor Greg Abbott’s early and debatable reopening of the state in the spring, a summer spike in cases of coronavirus and COVID-19 deaths, which surpassed the mark of 17,000 on Monday afternoon.
Abbott may be the most lenient in welcoming sports back to the pandemic, and in June he stated that schools and professional sports facilities could reopen with a capacity of 50% of fans. MLB has hosted the Division Series games on an unbiased site here and at Minute Maid Park in Houston, still without fans, it has yet announced its goal of hosting World Series and NLCS games with 10,500 ticket buyers at Globe Life Park.
Fans responded: all seven World Series games are sold out, while NLCS tickets remain for Games 2, 3 and 7.
A pattern of enthusiasts in Monday’s first game said situations established through MLB (mandatory face covers, spaced seats, no resale of outdoor tickets in an organization of 4) played a role in their resolve to participate.
“With the seats and masks, we feel very comfortable. Without hesitation,” said Stephen Mueller, 48, whose four-person organization included him and his 17-year-old son, Austin, with whom he attended a game in all 30 primary league parks.
They wore T-shirts commemorating the last day of Globe Life Park across the street. Rangers’ retractable-roofed space scheduled to open last March, but the industry’s closure when the coronavirus exploded across the country slowed it down until July.
While the new Globe Life is a big, intimidating design that almost seems to need to compete with AT
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Perhaps the most visually disturbing at this time of pandemic in the Grand Slam team store in the left corner of the field, where there is no COVID-19 roof for the occupants, according to two security guards, and social distance is scarce as enthusiasts met. popular items.
According to Abbott’s executive order, retail outlets will have to operate at 75% of their capacity. Although this mark does not appear to have been achieved, according to one estimate, there were more than 75 domestic consumers at any given time.
Meanwhile, while enthusiasts were organizing the label, there were reminders that this was not a game.
Fans made a cellular access without a price ticket for a greeting from hand sanitist dispensers at the entrance. Message forums in the field combined NLCS data and announcements with warnings to keep the mask away and guard. All other washbasins were moored, an assistant disinfecting the others after use.
On the Central Right Field monitor, a Spectrum Solutions ad promoted it as the company that offered COVID-19 testing “that keeps MLB players on the field. “
In the wide corridors, the preference for normality a little more evident. The conformity of the mask appeared to be around 95%. At the time of the match, it became clear that there was plenty of room for everyone to stretch.
For Jarrod Forsythe, a 29-year-old Houston Braves fan for the game, it’s a stark contrast to the crowd at several school football games.
“There’s some concern, however, we’re dressed in a mask, we’re not piling up like some of them,” he said, greeting the enthusiasts who aim at the strike balls. “I wouldn’t be sitting in a school football stadium at the time it sounds a little weird.
His friend Thad Adamek added: “MLB is doing a very smart job. And I waited five minutes to get in. I think the state of Texas has done everything it takes to make it an environment for MLB. “
This is a marked difference from summer, when the seven-day moving average for new coronavirus instances exceeded 10,000. Although dressing in masks has helped lower summer numbers, they are starting again. In Tarrant County, where the Rangers and Cowboys live. , positive cases more than doubled last month, from 1,400 in the week ending September 12 to 3200 in the week ending October 10.
The games, however, continued.
“If you practice all the right protocols, you just have to move on,” said Cindy Hibler, who was driving with a friend at McKinney’s nearby. “I think they did a wonderful task. “
Then, when the game started, there were boos for the Dodgers from a crowd of Braves. When a fake ball reached Dodgers first base, Max Muncy, enthusiasts were waiting when he threw the ball into the stands.
“It’s a step back to normal, where other people have a right to be loose and do what they have to do,” Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen said. “If you need to move on to a baseball game, move on to a baseball game. It’s not a laugh to play without fans.
“People have to live in the land of freedom again. “