hogan873

It's amazing how far we've come from months ago when we were seeing 10K+.

I'd imagine if the 30% gets approved we'll see an increase in cost of tickets sold on third party sites (Seat Geek, StubHub, etc.). Right now, aside from opening day, tickets aren't terribly expensive on Seat Geek. Season ticket holders probably have a good opportunity to make some cash this year.

Don't forget about afterwards, too. In 2019, we took the train up to see a game for the first time, and when walking back to the Metra stop I found a "vendor" selling beer for $3 a can. Picked up a couple for the train ride home.

Yeah, the bottom 4 could be Grandal, Robert, Eaton/Engel, and Madrigal. That's a tough lineup that can kill opposing teams with power AND speed.

Phillies allowing 20% capacity (8800 fans).

Brewers are going to allow 25% capacity on opening day. I expect more and more teams to start announcing that they will be allowing fans. I still wouldn't expect the Sox or Cubs to announce anything for a couple weeks.

Cardinals are allowing 32% capacity on opening day. That's encouraging.

Teams are planning now and would most likely be ready to allow fans by opening day. They're not going to wait until the city/state to say it's okay before making plans. The August 1 date is probably realistic for full or nearly full attendance IF we have herd immunity by then. Some NBA and NHL teams have begun allowing fans, and these are smaller, indoor venues. I only know about the Pittsburgh Penguins because I follow them, but officials notified them they could allow fans (18%), and they started selling tickets yesterday for games starting today. The team had been planning for the allowance of fans and was able to get the ball rolling immediately. I'm certain the Sox and Cubs (and all MLB teams) are ready.

But it's not NOT opening day. No one is going to say, "Yes there will be fans in the stands on opening day" right now because it's still too early. Positivity rates are dropping, vaccination rate are climbing, so things are looking up. If things continue to improve, I would not be surprised if very limited attendance is allowed on opening day. But, we won't hear anything, one way or the other, for a few weeks.

I'm pretty optimistic this is true, and I agree that they won't say anything until agreements have been reached between the teams and the city, state, etc. And to your point about concessions, that certainly could be an issue. Limited attendance, scaled down options, and well-trained vendors will help ensure things run smoothly.

The key with the vaccines and which one you'd ultimately want, right now Fauci and other health officials are saying take whatever vaccine is available to you. They all greatly reduce risk of hospitalization and death. I saw an interesting tidbit on the news the other day when they were talking about appointments being cancelled/postponed, specially in the wake of the severe weather. Health officials are now saying you can get your second shot of Pfizer/Moderna up to 6 weeks after your first shot. My guess is that ultimately they'll find that a person could go significantly longer between shots. Every day, we learn more about the virus and about the vaccines.

If the numbers continue to go down and vaccination rates continue to rise, things could look much better in a month. Things already look much better than they did one, two months ago. I understand officials not jumping the gun and saying they expect to allow fans by opening day. It's easier to make a last minute decision to allow fans than to make a last minute decision to rescind the allowance of fans. I'm not saying there will be fans on opening day. But, I wouldn't take what they're saying today as gospel. I do think it's entirely possible for a small amount of fans (10%-15%) in the stands as the season opens. The good news is that if the vaccination rates continue to rise, and there are indeed enough doses for all adults by the end of May, full or nearly full stadiums are possible by late summer.

Reynolds is Matt Reynolds, I believe. 11 plate appearances since 2018...and no hits in those 11 appearances.

I'd get a shot once a month if that is what's required to stay ahead of variants. I don't think it will come to anything so drastic, but I don't doubt that boosters will be required.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has met the requirements for emergency use authorization and the final approval should come soon. This is great news, especially considering it's a one-shot vaccine. I believe J&J said they could produce 100 million doses by mid-summer. This speeds up the road to herd immunity considerably. Based on this vaccine's efficacy against moderate to severe effects (66%), it might be recommended for lower risk people (healthy 16-65 year-olds). Just a guess, but if we get to a point where there's enough vaccines to pick and choose who gets what, it seems to make sense.

There is an assumption that COVID will become endemic and be a seasonal bug like the cold or flu. If that's the case, I wouldn't be surprised if there's an annual shot like the flu shot eventually.

I think the true number of potential deaths post-vaccine is complicated by not truly knowing if the vaccines prevent the spread of COVID. It is believed that they do, at least to a point. Without using numbers, my thought is that the vaccines are making COVID more similar to the flu in regards to severe infection, hospitalizations, and death. As far as the math, I'm not sure. Your figures make sense to me, but I wonder what the current percentage of people who catch COVID die is. We may never know because there are probably a lot more cases than we know of, with folks being asymptomatic or having minor symptoms.

I was just going to post something similar. Let's focus on what's on the field. So far, it seems like the players and TLR are getting along fine. It's early, I know, but they all want the same thing - to win. Whether we like it or not, TLR is the manager. There's no sense continuing to complain about it. Let's save the complaining for a game that is blown because of a bad decision or a crappy lineup or something related to the actual game.

I agree that March should be a big month, especially with the J&J vaccine likely becoming available. Right now, there are 1.75MM people getting a shot each day. That number should increase, and as we go into March we should be seeing over 2 million a day. That, coupled with the positivity rate continuing to drop, should allow us to feel better and better. Hopefully the vaccines continue to perform well against the variants and more people commit to getting the vaccine. I get my second Pfizer shot in two weeks, my wife (who works with students) gets her second shot next week, and my oldest (a nursing student) has had both shots. My in-laws, who we see regularly are getting their shots, and my parents, who live in NC are getting their second shot this week. I know that my story isn't unique. More and more people are getting the vaccines, and we should see even more of this happening as we go into March. I don't plan on ditching the mask, but I feel better every day hearing the success stories. Remember how we felt last summer and fall. For me, at least, there was a huge sense of dread. Now there's a sense of hope.

It's very frustrating right now, because for nearly a year we've heard that a vaccine is our only real way out of this. Now we have two approved and another close, and we truly are on the road to getting out of it. But the media, at least some of the media, is focusing on the bad instead of the good. And we're getting conflicting information every day. I understand not wanting to be all sunshine and rainbows and saying we'll be back to normal in a month. But the headlines we see pick out the cautious points and make them the most prominent. I saw an article yesterday with the headline saying we'll be wearing masks into 2022. But upon reading the article, that's a worst case scenario if the variants end up being resistant to the vaccines. The data, the real data, is showing that the vaccines are very effective against severe infection and will drastically reduce deaths and hospitalizations. And this is what we've wanted, what we've been told we need to start getting back to normal. Being cautious is one thing, but publishing articles and opinions with misleading headlines is irresponsible. No wonder there's mistrust and confusion about the vaccines.

I just want to see photos of sunshine and green grass. Very exciting with pitchers and catchers reporting today. First game is less than 2 weeks away. Our snow will melt...maybe.

I realize many of us dislike the TLR hiring, and everyone has a right to deal with that as they wish. Personally, I chooses to concentrate on the players and what happens on the field. I will be going to games this season (provided fans are allowed - fingers crossed), I'll buy the gear, I'll cheer them on. I liked Renteria, but he lacked the edge and made some piss-poor decisions regarding pitching. As far as Hendriks and others looking forward to playing for him, why wouldn't they? Thoughts of him personally aside, he's proven to be a very good manager and has demonstrated the ability to handle a pitching staff very well. If he leads this team to the playoffs, a pennant, a World Series, the players are going to like playing for him. Besides, what do you expect the players to say? That they don't want to play for him? Anderson was honest about his thoughts and is still willing to see what happens before making biased assumptions. Throughout this season, let's complain about TLR for the same reasons we've complained about previous managers. Let's b**** about lineups, play 10th inning arm chair managers regarding pitching changes, and proclaim that we could do a better job. And let's cheer this bad ass team all season while they fuck up the rest of the AL.

I got the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine yesterday. Aside from some mild arm soreness, I've had no issues. I did wake up about 2:00 this morning and found myself sleeping on the arm where I got the shot. That smarted a bit.

It's frustrating how much information differs from day to day. But, it is encouraging to hear that shipments of the vaccines are increasing on a regular basis. It does sound like if the rate of distribution keeps increasing and the J&J vaccine is approved by the end of the month that there will be enough available by late March/early April to vaccinate most people. There may some bottlenecks, though, when it comes to actually getting people vaccinated. Information of how to get a shot is spotty and differs from state to state, county to county, town to town. If states can start setting up mass vaccination sites, that will help a lot.

Wearing a mask when out in public is one of the easiest things we can do. There really hasn't been a flu season, and much of that can be attributed to masks and social distancing. That is easy proof of how effective wearing a mask can be.