ST. LOUIS — I’m reporting to you from the future. It’s Aug. 17, 2022 — so, six months from when you’re reading this. That Major League Baseball lockout you and other fans are enduring? Well, it happened — games were ultimately lost. The owners and players didn’t agree to a new collective bargaining agreement until May 1. After a wedged-in spring training, the league began a 100-game season in early June.
And so, here we are on Aug. 17. Baseball is back on, but it just feels off.
It’s a weekday night at Busch, and entire sections are empty. Scattered fans in other sections look like they’re social distancing. Now, the lower bowl still fills out pretty well — the Cardinals are still the Cardinals, and that’s still Nolan Arenado out there, and the team is in the division hunt. But attendance numbers are startlingly down across Major League Baseball. There is this malaise. This discontent. This disconnect.
