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Tuesday BP: Baseball’s back and it feels ... normal?

I like that feeling!

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San Francisco Giants v Oakland Athletics Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Hello and happy Tuesday.

Yesterday you watched the San Francisco Giants and Oakland A’s play the first exhibition game of the season (which the Giants won!). I’ll happily admit that I was excited to watch baseball again, despite being apprehensive and critical about MLB’s plan to resume play.

Still, despite my excitement, I expected the game to feel ... weird. There would be no fans. There would be no high-fiving. Players would be wearing masks while mingling. The broadcasters would be in a remote location which would hinder their ability to call the game in a normal fashion.

Nope. Perhaps it was because the coronavirus has gone on so long that it seems weirder to me when people aren’t wearing masks and socially distancing. Perhaps it’s because the game was at the Oakland Coliseum, so there were no fewer fans than you expect to see at a July baseball game.

Whatever it was, it felt normal. It felt like a good, standard baseball game.

We’ll see what the coming months bring in terms of safety, coronavirus test results, and quality of the product. But yesterday’s game felt entirely normal, and as much as I was looking forward to it, that wasn’t what I was expecting.


Did Barry Bonds hit a home run today?

He did.

July 21, 2000: Against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Bonds hit a solo home run in the 8th inning off of Matt Herges. It gave the Giants a 5-3 lead, but they would lose 6-5. It was his 32nd homer of the year.


Giants links

Have a great Tuesday, everyone. Enjoy more baseball!