Chicago Cubs: It’s going to be weird without fans in the stands

For the Chicago Cubs, it’s going to be strange. No fans in the stands? Freaky, right? But with COVID-19, it’s part of the change of baseball.

The Chicago Cubs are going to ‘inject the sound’ into Wrigley Field, but that’s all it is going to be. Sound. The Cubs are not allowed to have 25 percent of their regular capacity–that’s because of the COVID-19 virus–and are looking to turn to ‘other means’ to keep them at bay.

I don’t know if we are or aren’t looking to allow that 25 percent of regular capacity. To be honest? I don’t think so. The coronavirus has peaked again. I don’t know how they will get the season finished. Pray?

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I have brain cancer, so I may be unable to get to a game on the rooftop. And for $400? Thanks, but no thanks. Los Angeles Angels third baseman Anthony Rendon knows it’s ‘stupid.’

“Definitely, without a doubt,” he said. ”It’s like you have two of your senses that aren’t coinciding with one another. It’s like you’re looking at a pizza, but you’re smelling a hamburger.“You hear noise but you know nobody’s in the stands. You don’t see anybody. I think it was dumb. I’d rather listen to music.” h/t Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune

The Cubs’ Jon Lester thinks maybe it is best for the players. Granted, he’s never heard the sounds from inside the ballpark–because he’s hasn’t pitched in it. But it keeps them focused?

“Or maybe it doesn’t. Lester, said. “I don’t know.”

The players are split on it. And the ‘opt-out’ players? There in ‘high-risk’ categories. Cancer survivors Anthony Rizzo and Lester are on there, though they are playing. Players who have family or friends who are prone to it. The COVID-19 pandemic is frightening–but it can be held in check.

In fact, Yu Darvish said he ‘wouldn’t play’ if he was unhappy with the COVID-19. But teammates put him at ease, and he continued playing. Darvish done for the year. And Jose Quintana done for a couple of weeks–if not more? So Kyle Hendricks and Lester? Yikes.

So bumping the noise through Wrigley Field isn’t practical–just to keep the player’s mind at ease. If they hear the crowd noise, most likely, they will be irrelevant to it. Most players ‘phase it out.’ At least half of them.