Yesterday, St. Louis’s civil holiday was cancelled.
Whenever baseball returns, if it does, it’s going to be hard for a late May/mid-June/early July game to feel like a true home opener, even if it is the first game the Cardinals play at Busch. The 2020 season is going to have so much baggage that when it does start it’s going to be a relief more than a release of excitement and the beginning of possibilities.
I mean, assuming that fans are allowed to be at the game, there will still be the Clydesdales trotting around the track, the Hall of Famers in their red jackets, the players taking their lap in the trucks. It’s going to be a great day in St. Louis no matter when it happens, but it just won’t be the same sweating in 90 degree weather for it. Not that it won’t be sold out within minutes of it being announced.
There was plenty of baseball discussed yesterday, of course. The Cards and their minor league affiliates looked back at past Opening Days, showing pictures and videos from them. Fans wore red, they just wore it at home. If there were peanuts, popcorn, and beer consumed, it was from people’s own stock. (Which meant it cost less, at least. There is that.)
Right now the buzz seems to be a July 1 start and a 100 game season, though that’s just rumor and conjecture. The problem is that, more and more, that seems like our best case scenario. If it happens, 2020 will be a season that no one will ever forget and one that will get talked about and referenced for years to come.
Let’s hope we can have that sweltering Opening Day!