Decision to allow fans at games buoys players
DUNEDIN, Fla. — Mitch Keller was beginning his warmup tosses at TD Ballpark before a spring training game against the Blue Jays on Monday afternoon when he glanced into the stands and saw a strange sight: people.
Not empty chairs or cardboard cutouts. Real, live human beings. The visual brought a smile to Keller’s face.
“It’s a lot of fun and gives you extra adrenaline,” Keller said. “It felt like a real spring training game out there. I’m excited for the season.”
Although Keller was unaware it happened because he was busy playing baseball, news broke about an hour before first pitch that the Pirates would have fans in the stands at PNC Park this season, the result of Governor Tom Wolf’s updated COVID-19 mitigation efforts.
The whole thing will start with the Pirates’ home opener against the Cubs on April 8. Capacity will be 20%, although there is some nuance there.
It has not yet been determined whether PNC Park will get one-fifth of overall (around 40,000) or seated (38,362) capacity, while there are also details to be worked out with Major League Baseball regarding compedtickets and how many will actually be made available to the general public.
Nevertheless, from a player perspective, this sort of normalcy returning is no small thing, especially after a 2020 season in which the Pirates played in front of zero fans.
“Just to hear the oohs and ahhs, the emotion from the crowd, is huge,” Keller said. “It’s what we feed off of. Definitely creates a home-field advantage, no matter how many fans you have in the stands or where you’re at. Having people there definitely helps you play the game a little bit more. It just brings a little extra level of intensity to everybody, too. That’s awesome to hear.”
Having fans back at PNC Park will create a different dynamic for Anthony Alford, the outfielder the Pirates claimed off of waivers from the Blue Jays last season. Alford actually doesn’t even know what the place looks like with anybody inside of it, although he has heard good things.
“I feel like I didn’t really get the full experience of PNC,” Alford said. “Obviously it’s a beautiful field and I’ve heard a lot about it. A lot of history there with the ballclub and Pittsburgh.
“I’m looking forward to just getting there, even if I can’t interact with fans, just being able to see them in the stands and making it feel somewhat normal.”
The fact that 7,500 fans — or whatever the final count ends up at — can attend obviously does not mean the pandemic will be over. Same as LECOM Park Tuesday, for the home spring training opener with around 2,000 expected to attend, it’s sure to feel strange.
The two- and four-person pods. Masks everywhere. Limited food options and, like Monday, games that can just be randomly shortened. But the same way the players are thinking about this, it’s better than looking into the stands and seeing and hearing nothing.
“You get in some ballparks, on the road, and some fans can be kind of harsh,” Alford said. “But I mean, I think it’s awesome just to be able to have them there, and a lot of guys feed off of that, myself included. It just makes it feel like real baseball again.”