Individual whistles echo during quieter moments, and a single fan with enough persistence can leave an impression with a chant during World Series games with the smallest crowds in more than 100 years.
Because of the coronavirus, this year’s Fall Classic was held at a neutral site, the 40,518-seat Globe Life Field, the $1.2 billion new home of the Texas Rangers.
The roughly 11,000 mask-wearing fans each night — well, they’re supposed to be wearing face coverings — are roughly 11,000 more than players saw in the stands during the regular season and all of the American League playoffs.
“It certainly sounds like there’s 40,000 people in there,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said in the run-up to Tuesday’s Game 6. “Now, they might be 35,000 Dodger fans, which is OK. Any type of loudness and energy, that creates a lot in the dugout. That creates intensity. It’s loud and it’s been really refreshing to get to play with fans.”
To Cash’s point, there has been plenty of Dodger blue visible for each of the 12 games with limited crowds since the start of the National League Championship Series two weeks ago. The 13th was Game 6, with Los Angeles in position to win its first title in 32 years.
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That also means plenty of masks with the iconic interlocking LA logo since face coverings are required except when fans are “actively eating or drinking” — an activity apparently more loosely defined by some.
There’s plenty of elbow room on the concourses, and fans in clusters of four are separated by at least one row above and below them. Mask compliance on the concourses is close to 100 percent, while in the seats about one in four can be seen either without a mask on, or with the covering pulled down around the neck.
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Many of these fans, though, are used to being crammed into the corridors of, say, Dodger Stadium, in the postseason.
“It’s great that it’s empty and it’s clean and it was easy to get in,” said Ana Chacon, born, raised, and still living in Los Angeles County. “But it sucks that not everyone got to come. And it sucks that it’s not in Los Angeles.”
Game 1′s restricted total of 11,388 was the smallest Series crowd since 10,535 attended Game 6 in 1909 between the Tigers and Pittsburgh at Detroit’s Bennett Park, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
It’s the first World Series played entirely at one ballpark since 1944 between the Cardinals and Browns at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis — and the fourth overall. The Yankees and Giants shared New York’s Polo Grounds in 1921 and 1922.
Jacob Ornelas grew up in the Dallas area before returning to his native El Paso. He still makes it back for Texas Rangers games and would have been at Globe Life Field’s first Opening Day had fans been allowed.
Ornelas went to games at the original homes of the Rangers, since-demolished Arlington Stadium, and watched them in the World Series a decade ago at Globe Life Park. The open-air facility is still standing across the street from the new place.
He was standing in a concession line, trying to keep his social distance, on a concourse with large dots everywhere reminding people to stay 6 feet apart. Just like with the masks, some lines were compliant, others not so much.
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“It takes away from the experience overall, but not my experience as far as being here the first time, being in a World Series,” Ornelas said. “It’s a World Series, not the regular season. The crowd, the noise.”
Los Angeles pitcher Tony Gonsolin said he noticed a stronger presence of Dodgers fans in the World Series compared with the NLCS, which might have to do with the Atlanta Braves having a strong national following themselves. LA beat Atlanta in Game 7 to advance.
“Overall, it’s a little bit louder,” Gonsolin said. “Those exciting moments are a little more exciting. It’s just a fun atmosphere.”
The retractable roof has served a purpose as well. It was open for the first two games, when the temperature at first pitch was in the low 80s during a usually mild time of year in Texas.
It was about 30 degrees cooler for Game 3, so the roof was closed, then reopened with a game-time temperature of 57 degrees for Game 4. A cold and rainy Sunday closed the roof again for Game 5.
“Regardless of the limited amount [of fans], I think the stadium does still get loud, especially with the roof closed,” Tampa Bay outfielder Austin Meadows said. “It is nice to have that and kind of earn that, especially with this year going through so much and not having anybody in the stands. Getting to experience that here in the World Series is special.”
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The Globe Life Field roof was closed for Game 6 as the forecast called for a game-time temperature of 42 Tuesday night and a chance of rain. Major League Baseball announced the roof decision about four hours before the scheduled first pitch.
“We hope the roof is closed because it’s freezing,” Kiké Hernández of the Dodgers said shortly before the announcement.
Morton has a lot of final thoughts
Charlie Morton started the day Tuesday not knowing if he will pitch in a Game 7 of the World Series with his Tampa Bay Rays facing elimination.
The righthander also didn’t know if he would pitch again at all, since Morton has already indicated he might retire if the Rays don’t pick up the $15 million option on his contract for next season. Morton turns 37 next month.
“I’ve been thinking about it,” Morton said before Game 6. “Will it be the last time I put on a uniform? Will it be the last time I put on a Rays uniform? Hopefully not. It just goes back to the situation, what it’s looking like this offseason into next year.”
If there were to be a Game 7, LA ace Walker Buehler would oppose Morton in a winner-take-all finale Wednesday night.
It would be a rematch of Game 3, won by the Dodgers, 6-2, when Buehler struck out 10 and allowed one run in six innings. Morton had his worst outing in two postseasons with the Rays, giving up seven hits and five runs in 4⅓ innings.
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But Morton has Game 7 experience in the World Series that Buehler lacks. Morton pitched four scoreless innings for Houston to finish the 2017 finale at Dodger Stadium in a 5-1 victory that clinched the championship for the Astros.
Morton acknowledged it will be different going into the final day of the season knowing he was starting a Game 7 in the World Series. Lance McCullers Jr. had the task for Houston three years ago.
“I woke up not even thinking that I was going to be in that game,” said Morton, who beat Houston in Game 7 of the AL Championship Series this year to send Tampa Bay to the World Series for the second time.
“So I didn’t have to go to bed that night and wake up all day and just stew about it. I saw Lance just going to walk to get some coffee that morning, and I was thinking, ‘Dang, man, I wonder what it’s like to know that you’re about to start Game 7 of the World Series?’ Experience, it gives you some peace of mind.”
Spinning a yarn
Morton went on for seven minutes about spin rates after getting asked how that information helped turn a mediocre, injury-plagued career into one with a strong postseason resume.
The two-time All-Star started by saying he found out he had one of the top five spin rates for curveballs by accident when he was watching MLB Network.
Morton said it never really sunk in that he should throw the curveball more until he went to Houston, and then on to Tampa Bay, where he said he threw it about 50 percent of the time last season.
The final answer on using the data? Actually, it was mostly a “no” because of the fastball. One of the people who studies analytics for the club recently told him his four-seam fastball “outperforms” the data.
“I don’t know if that gave me confidence or took it away,” said Morton, whose four-seam fastball averaged 93.4 miles per hour in 2020 after three consecutive years at 94.7 or higher.
TV ratings have nowhere to go but up
After registering the lowest TV ratings ever, viewership bounced back slightly in the Games 4 and 5.
The Dodgers' 6-2 Game 3 win was the least-watched World Series game ever, beating the record set two days earlier in Game 2.
Friday night’s game was seen by an average of 8,156,000 viewers age 2 and higher on Fox, Nielsen Media Research said. Game 2 was seen by an average of 8,950,000 and Game 1 by an average of 9,195,000.
Tampa Bay’s walkoff 8-7 win in Game 4 on Saturday night was seen by an average of 9,332,000 and the Dodgers' 4-2 victory in Game 5 on Sunday night by an average of 10,059,000.
Before this year, the only World Series game with less than 10 million viewers was Philadelphia’s rain-delayed Game 3 win over the Rays in 2008, viewed by 9,836,000. That game, played on a Saturday night, was delayed by rain for 91 minutes at the start to 10:06 p.m. and the final out was at 1:47 a.m.
Last year’s Series between Washington and Houston drew 12.3 million viewers for Game 3; 10,285,000 for Game 4; and 11,464,000 for Game 5.
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