Dodgers strike first in World Series as Kershaw leads Los Angeles to a game one win over Tampa in front of just 11,400 socially distanced fans - the smallest crowd to watch a Fall Classic game in more than a century
Clayton Kershaw pitched six dominant innings, Cody Bellinger and Mookie Betts homered and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Tampa Bay Rays 8-3 to open a surreal World Series played amid the pandemic.
The assembled crowd of nearly 11,400 fans, the lowest attendance for a World Series game in more than a century, watched as the Dodgers moved one step closer to breaking their 32-year championship drought.
While World Series games usually make for a festive, raucous atmosphere, this year's edition, which is held amidst a deadly pandemic, struck a different chord.
Two fans who were in attendance, Julie and Lance Smith, walked through the mostly empty concourse of Globe Life Field.
Tampa Bay infielder Joey Wendle is married to one of their cousins, and they weren't going to miss his World Series debut.
'It's so weird,' said Julie Smith, 38, from Gadsden, Alabama.
'It's kind of nice in a way, too,' Lance, 39, said before they headed to their seats in the first deck behind home plate.
Just over 11,300 people attended the first game of the World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Tampa Bay Rays in Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday
The Los Angeles Dodgers line up during during the national anthem and a fly over before Game 1 on Tuesday
A limited number of fans begin to make their way to seats before the start of the ballgame on Tuesday
The COVID-19 pandemic forced local authorities to impose restrictions that limited attendance at the ballpark
They wore masks, but many fans ignored the rules which said they should wear facial coverings except while eating or drinking at their ticketed seats.
A crowd of 11,388 attended Tuesday night's World Series opener, spread in groups of up to four, mostly in alternate rows and none directly behind each other among the forest green seats.
That was the smallest crowd for the Series since 10,535 attended Game 6 in 1909 between the Tigers and Pittsburgh at Detroit’s Bennett Park, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
That would be the smallest for a World Series game in about 111 years.
Major League Baseball planned to make about 11,500 tickets available for each game, about 28 per cent of the 40,518 capacity at the retractable-roof stadium of the Texas Rangers.
The new $1.2billion venue opened this year and replaced Globe Life Field, the team's open-air home from 1994 through 2019.
During batting practice, through the new stadium's glass walls, the sun glistened off the red brick of the old stadium across the street beyond left field, a field now used for high school football.
Small groups of Dodgers fans take photos and begin to make their way to their seats before the first game
The image above shows a view of fans walking along the concourse before the game in Arlington on Tuesday
While fans were instructed to wear masks while inside the stadium, many spectators declined to put them on
Fans in the stands were socially distanced. The sign above urges fans to wear their face coverings during the game
The Dodgers scored eight runs thanks in part to Cody Bellinger, who hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning
Behind home plate, the Dallas Cowboys' AT&T Stadium gleamed like a spaceship.
World Series games are usually festive, packed early with fans celebrating the dual accomplishments of their team making it to baseball's ultimate stage and of their snagging hard-to-find tickets, usually displayed in plastic hanging from lanyard draped around their necks.
But this World Series had a surreal, at times somber aspect caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic. The small crowd was supplemented with fan audio from stadium speakers.
No fans were allowed to any of the 898 regular-season games this season, which were played in empty ballparks due to governmental health restrictions.
Players' families were allowed starting for the 18 first-round games, the 15 Division Series games and the AL Championship Series between Tampa Bay and Houston in San Diego, with fans added for the Dodgers' matchup against Atlanta in the NL Championship Series in Arlington, an average of 10,835 for the seven games.
Roughly the same amount of tickets were sold for each World Series game.
The crowd noise was so minimal that the stadium system piped in artificial noise to give the game a more festive feel
While fans were socially distanced, many of them declined to wear masks (as seen in the image above)
Texas Rangers fans made their presence felt even though their team was not competing in baseball's Fall Classic
Cardboard cutouts of fans are placed in front rows while a limited number of spectators are seated in the back rows of the above section
Fans had to sit with one empty row separating them at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday
Fans wore Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Dodgers gear while watching the first game of the World Series on Tuesday
Fans attempted to catch a foul ball that was hit into the seats during the first game of the World Series on Tuesday
Dodgers fans cheered on their team during the first game of the World Series in Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday
Fans are socially distanced and seated in staggered rows during the first game of the World Series on Tuesday
Behind third base, a group of fans in Dodgers gear watched after flying in.
Brian Casey, a 29-year-old from Glendale, California, booked a plane ticket ahead of Sunday night's win over the Braves, knowing he had 24 hours to cancel without penalty, then made a decision after the Dodgers rallied for a 4-3 win.
He was in attendance when they last won the World Series in 1988 as a kid and was at Dodger Stadium when they played Boston in 2018. He watched Tuesday with Ryan Radenbaugh, 37, from Burbank.
'We just went to buy souvenirs and it was all Rangers stuff,' Radenbaugh said.
Noah Garden, MLB's chief revenue officer, said the pandemic made it difficult to get gear shipped in the short time after teams won pennants last weekend.
Dodgers fans who couldn't make it to the game in Arlington still watched on a giant screen in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Tuesday
Dodgers fans kept their distance and stayed on top of their cars as they watched their heroes win the first game
Dodgers fans cheer while sitting in the back of a pick-up truck in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium on Tuesday
MLB made the decision to play with the roof open.
It was closed until the Dodgers started to warm up about three-and-a-half hours ahead of first pitch, then slid open as the public address system played Strauss' Also Sprach Zarasuthra, known to many as the opening music from Stanley Kubrick´s 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The usual pregame introductions of teams were dispensed with.
When the a cappella group Pentatonix sang a recorded version of The Star-Spangled Banner played on the 58x150-foot video board in right field and the 40-x111-foot board in the left-field corner, about 18 Dodgers were in front of the first base dugout and on the right field line, and roughly a dozen Rays were by the third base dugout and on the left-field line.
A live flyover of four jets followed, and ceremonial first pitches were thrown by medical personnel who assisted during the pandemic: Brittney Burns, a nurse practitioner from San Antonio; Erika Combs, an oncology and kidney transplant nurse at a Dallas hospital; and Jamie Edens and Ryan Ward, nurses from Tulsa, Oklahoma, who are a married couple.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who was on hand, yelled 'Play Ball!' into a microphone and retired Dodgers announcer Vin Scully delivered by video recording: 'It's time for Dodger baseball!' just before Clayton Kershaw walked to the mound.
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