Under normal circumstances, today would have been Opening Day for Major League Baseball in ballparks across the nation. Not only would fans be filing into their seats to watch live sports (remember those?), we’d be able to flop down in front of our television sets to watch a plethora of games at our fingertips. This is your daily, dour reminder of how much our lives have changed during the coronavirus pandemic. But baseball fans are doing what they can to honor the Opening Day tradition, and teams are getting in on it.
Using the celebratory hashtag #OpeningDayAtHome, the MLB and its teams produced original videos celebrating their sport, and the fans of all ages that back it. This one encapsulates the whole league, and how it has adjusted to fit the mood of our culture:
But at the same time, each team made their own tribute to their fans, their home markets, and the impact of the sport, in general. Like this one, from the Baltimore Orioles:
Or this touching one, from the Houston Astros:
Sensing a trend, the hit Netflix show Schitt’s Creek jumped in on the action.
But mostly, the hashtag is being used by fans who truly miss the fact that baseball isn’t coming back anytime soon, but this provided them with an opportunity to show unity and strength during a difficult period. Even big, furry fans were showing Major League Baseball the love:
Stay at home, Clark!
The hardest part about #OpeningDayAtHome is that we’re uncertain when Opening Day For Real will take place. There were reports on ESPN that the league and its unions were aiming for an early June start to the season, but it’s too soon right now to determine if that’s too optimistic of a hope. We’ll find out soon enough if the isolation efforts of the nation, and the world, helped to flatten the curve of the coronavirus pandemic and help society get back to a sense of normalcy.
