New baseball

When I was going to school a whole bunch of years ago there was a question that was sometimes asked concerning a popular subject. “What if they had a ______ and nobody came? Now the blank was always something extremely popular that everyone would want to see. Such as in 1964, what if the Beatles scheduled a concert in Spokane and nobody came? That would have been very hard to believe and was always met with a laugh or two.

So what if the Major League baseball season started and nobody was allowed in the stadium? If you would have asked that question last October during the World Series it would have been met with a lot of, “Yeah, right!” comments, or “Get Real!” But here we are at the end of July, a time when most baseball fans would be wondering about the trade deadline when teams were either buyers or sellers, depending if they were in the hunt for a playoff berth.

With only 60 games to play, every team is in the hunt for at least a couple of weeks, and that is when the good teams will take over. It will be difficult to start out slow and try to make up a deficit of five or six games. When that happens, the good teams will pour it on and the also-rans will be looking to next year and play some kids with the idea that they need the experience and exposure; and without fans, there will be less pressure on them.

There are a few things I observed over the weekend; even though I didn’t watch every game, I did see a few things to comment on. The Mariners played at Houston, where they hadn’t won since 2018. Pitching woes against a potent Astro lineup made it difficult for the M’s. Finally, on Sunday the youngsters rallied in the 8th inning for three runs and a two-run cushion, which they needed in order to defeat the Houston ‘Cheaters’ 7-6. I watched the last two innings on the replay and it was a bit exciting to see these kids get that win.

Houston has decided to pipe in noise, but have no cutouts of fans; just the green seats can be seen in the background. Each team has their way of dealing with C-19 and the rules of the day.

You will notice this year that after a strikeout, the catcher will merely toss the ball back to the pitcher; not throw it to the third baseman to toss it around the infield as is tradition. In other words, the fewer hands that touch the ball, the better.

I did watch some of the Dodger-Giant games, which is a great rivalry. The Dodgers have decided to use cardboard cutouts in their stadium. I’m not sure if they used head shots of people that want to be seen and become a future actor or actress, or if they are people that are the actual season ticketholders for those seats. Or maybe those people are computer-generated.

Whatever the case may be, I think that it would have been much better if the shorter cutouts would be in a better position to see the game, than having the tall guy blocking the view of the people behind him. Yes, I know these are cardboard cutouts and they can’t actually see the game, but let’s respect us shorter people’s rights as spectators. There, I said it!

Finally, famous virus fighter and avid Washington Nationals fan Dr. Tony Fauci had the honor to throw out the first pitch at the Nationals-Yankees game on Thursday night. You don’t have to be a great athlete to be a sports fan, and maybe the gentleman in his 70’s has lost the speed and accuracy on his fast ball. Or maybe his Washington Nationals mask got in his way to throw the perfect pitch. Who knows? What I do know is that his toss was a comical highlight for the ages in a good way.

There is a scene in the movie Bull Durham where Crash Davis played by Kevin Costner tells pitcher Nuke LaLush played by Tim Robbins to hit the team mascot. The very next pitch the Durham Bulls mascot gets beaned in the head and hits the ground.

When Fauci gets ready, he looks at the catcher and throws the ball in the direction of the camera crew to his left, in much the same way Tim Robbins’ character did, only not as fast, accurate or deadly. But it was funny.

So I guess this is the new baseball with virtual fans yelling at home. No designated driver needed. Cardboard cutouts of fans or no fans will be the norm. One thing I did notice is that these Dodger fans didn’t arrive late or leave early. That’s a plus.