California to start allowing some fans in stadiums

We’re still more than five months away from the San Francisco Giants playing a baseball game. And given where the world was five months ago, it’s probably not too smart to start projecting what things will look like too far in the future.

But as of right now, it looks like there just might be some fans in those hard green plastic seats at Oracle Park when the Giants have their home opener on April 9 against the Colorado Rockies.

There were, of course, no Giants fans in the stands in 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic kept fans from attending any games until the postseason. But on Tuesday it was announced that California will start to allow some fans back into open-air stadiums. The stadiums can only be filled to 20% capacity, and have to be in a county that is in an orange (moderate) or yellow (minimal) tier of coronavirus spread.

That little yellow dot is San Francisco County, so technically this would apply to the Giants, if they had games to play.

That said, it’s still up to the discretion of each county, and no sooner had this news been released than Santa Clara county swiftly shut the door on the idea of fans heading to San Francisco 49ers games.

It seems likely that, even if the Giants were still playing games, fans would not be allowed in Oracle Park.

But this is, for better or for worse, a step towards putting fans in stadiums in California. And with nearly half a year until the Giants are set to play a home game, it seems likely that a few more steps will be taken between now and then.

Which means the home opener might actually have some non-cardboard fans.