As the weather starts to warm up, I begin to think about activities that are synonymous with floral spring and balmy summer days. One of those activities is baseball and a major landmark for baseball nerds like me happened a few weeks ago with the opening day of the MLB season. I must admit that coming from New York, I have a conflict of interest between the Mets and the Mariners, but I will try my best to stay neutral. In this article I will discuss the upcoming baseball season and answer questions about the Northwest’s rules on going to sporting events as stadiums are beginning to allow fans with precautions.
Baseball season started on April 1st, so there have already been multiple weeks of games played and plenty of headlines. As of April 10th, the betting favorite team to win the World Series are the Dodgers at around a 28% chance with the Mariners having a 1% chance and the Mets having a 10% chance, significantly higher than last year. The long and grueling MLB regular season consists of 162 games for each of the league’s 30 teams through boiling summer days as they battle to make it to the playoffs and eventually the World Series, where the final game is scheduled for November 3. That is over 7 months of baseball and during the regular season teams play an average of just over 6 games a week. This is absurd considering the NFL has 1 game per week and the NBA has just over 3. Trust me, I could write a whole other article about the schedule challenges of MLB teams, especially for more remote teams like the Mariners.
I am sure everyone is wondering if they are allowed to cheer on their favorite sports teams in a stadium, like T-Mobile Park or Lumen Field. I talked to the Northwest School Health Coordinator Sierra Maxwell about this very question and much more. If you want to see a Mariners game this season, you’re in luck because T-Mobile Field is selling tickets in pods of up to 6 people in the same household. Sierra Maxwell says that if you follow all necessary COVID precautions and guidelines when going to a sporting event in Washington state, you don’t have to quarantine or miss school. Unfortunately, it’s a whole different story if you want to travel out of state. I’m sorry to report that if you’re a Blazers, Timbers or Pickles fan (yes, the Portland Pickles are a real sports team) and have been waiting months to finally see them play in person, you have to get tested 3-5 days after your trip and quarantine a full 7 days even if you test negative. Keep in mind that the out of state travel policy is applicable to whenever you leave the state of Washington, not just for sporting events. The one way you can get around this policy is if it’s been more than 2 weeks since your second shot of the COVID vaccine, one of many reasons why you should get the vaccine once you’re eligible. Sierra Maxwell’s final piece of advice for those wanting to go to events or activities outside of school is to “do your research beforehand and make sure to fully understand what’s expected from you in each setting”. For example, T-Mobile Park has outlined guidelines for fans on their website.
If you have any other questions about Northwest’s COVID policies feel free to email Sierra at sierra.maxwell@northwestschool.org.
I want to thank Sierra Maxwell, the Northwest School Health Coordinator, for helping to answer my questions and concerns going into the baseball season. Now that I know the rules about attending sporting events, I can’t wait to go to a baseball game and cheer my Mets on TV. Whatever team you’re rooting for this year, we all want to spend more time outside as we near the end of the pandemic and I hope my article has helped you gather more information on the topic.
