As the St. Louis Cardinals start their 2020 season with a home opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates this Friday, a burst of brightly colored familiarity will return to downtown. But not the tens of thousands of fans who typically fill Busch Stadium.
As the Redbirds’ devoted fans gather instead (hopefully in socially distant ways) around TVs and other devices to take in the abbreviated, 60-game season, conditions inside the stadium will be a whole new ballgame.
On Tuesday’s St. Louis on the Air, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Derrick Goold joined host Sarah Fenske to talk about the upcoming season. They discussed some of the biggest changes — and the big remaining questions — associated with this year’s play, as well as the strength of the team's roster.
Goold noted that in professional baseball’s century and a half of history in America, there’s never been such a late start to the season.
“It’s been a long time since there was a Memorial Day without baseball. It’s been a long time since there was a Mother’s Day, a Father’s Day, a Flag Day, a July Fourth without baseball,” he said. “And yet here we are. … There’s been work stoppages in the past, but one of those split a season in half, and the other one didn’t delay the season that long — it just ended up canceling the World Series.”
Goold added that, logistically speaking, only time will tell the season’s success.
“If Major League Baseball pulls this off, it is a remarkable feat of human cooperation,” he said.
Listen to the conversation:
Cardinals fans: Since attending games is out of the question, how are you planning to cheer the team on to victory? Tweet us (@STLonAir), send an email to talk@stlpublicradio.org or share your thoughts via our St. Louis on the Air Facebook group.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is hosted by Sarah Fenske and produced by Alex Heuer, Emily Woodbury, Evie Hemphill and Lara Hamdan. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
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