Ok, here’s my eyewitness report on Akron vs Erie on Sunday.
Arrived at the ballpark 45 minutes before game time. Entered the stadium and tried to find a scorecard and was told there is no such thing, but could scan a code into my phone to access rosters and starting lineups. Scanned the code and saw that neither Tyler Freeman nor Bo Naylor were playing. Then, since my oldest son collects autographs and now lives in Colorado, two of my other sons and I went to the Akron dugout area, hoping to get Freeman and Naylor to sign, only to be told that the players are no longer allowed, dictated by MLB, to sign autographs. Apparently paper scorecards and pens are infecting millions of baseball fans and players with Covid-19. So we went to our “seat pod” and settled in with the other 200-300 fans privileged to be allowed into the stadium.
Eli Lingos got the start and retired one batter before being removed. He topped out at 88 on the speed gun. Akron trailed 4-0 after one. They rallied to tie it at 5-5 but lost 7-6. No one of prospect interest pitched.
Oscar Gonzalez hit a monstrous homer to left. Will Benson had a triple and single and actually looked pretty good. Richie Palacios played 2B and made one phenomenal play that resulted in a double play. Marcos Gonzalez homered in the 9th.
Concessions at the park were bland and uninspired.
Possibly my least favorite minor league experience ever. COVID-19 and MLB combine to do their best to kill minor league baseball.
