So you went to a live sporting event in the midst of a global pandemic?

If you speak with anyone that knows me they will tell me how passionate I am about going to sporting events no matter the size. When the COVID-19 pandemic first struck the sports world, ultimately leading to a postponement of all sports throughout the country and world. At the time, sports were at the least of my worries. I was focused on getting back to Texas from Oregon to hunker down with my family as what we had expected would last a few weeks.

As we all know it wasn’t. With unrest occurring throughout the country and the world, I was trying to discover my escape back into sports. The NBA bubble was thrilling for a bit until the Mavericks had a dramatic exit by the Clippers in the first round. I then switch my attention to the Dallas Stars, who I haven’t followed in years, and their run to the Stanley Cup Finals. Watching on TV wasn’t the same. The atmosphere and energy were missing despite both being filled with drama.

Ultimately, the MLB season was wrapping up with neutral site games in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex for the playoffs. With Texas being one of the states that allowed fans in the stadiums, I thought there was a chance but with baseball being pretty conservative I assumed it would be a slim chance that they would open the gates for spectators. Fortunately, I was mistaken! Once the league announced the game times and the date that tickets were released, I knew I needed to get in no matter who was playing.

Thankfully I had a trip back home to visit my family for my mom’s birthday already planned and I was able to secure four tickets to Game 5 of the World Series through the ticket lottery from MLB. It was official, I was going to attend a major sporting event in the middle of a once in a century global pandemic. Sure some people may think I was irresponsible for going to an event of its size, but I wanted to test the waters for myself. Would I do it for a regular-season game? Probably not. But this was the first neutral-site World Series in the 116 years of the series.

So this recent Sunday, I was finally able to attend a live sporting event for the first time in over seven months. We arrived at the stadium fairly early as we wanted to grab a bite to eat and drink at Texas Live, which is essentially a giant sports bar adjacent to the stadium. As expected, the place was jammed with Dodgers fans with a sprinkling of Rays fans. The majority of folks were donning their masks unless they were actively eating or drinking. While they were following the government mandates it was not a place I wanted to spend for an extended period of time.

Since this was our first time at Globe Life Field, we wanted to spend some time walking around the stadium and checking out the different sightlines. While the stadium is nice, it left a lot to desire. There was nothing that would be considered as a notable landmark that you must see. Most of the concessions stands were closed which, was as expected, however, they were missing some of the concession items that they promoted prior to the season such as the Rattlesnake Sausage Dog.

In my opinion, the best part of the stadium is the cavernous concourses on all levels of the stadium. Even though capacity was capped at 25% of the seating capacity it felt like even with a sellout crowd there would still be enough room to walk around and not feel like you are on a New York sidewalk. After walking around, we finally went up to our seats still fairly early because we wanted to prevent any reasons to get up during the game unless to get a couple of beers.

I personally felt comfortable the entire time at the game. I wore my mask at all times unless I was taking a picture with my friends or having a drink of my beer. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case for all fans in my section. Two rows in front of us there was a group that decided to take their mask off each half inning and would put it on when the usher came down and requested them to with no other repercussions.

All things considered, the game was a fantastic experience. It definitely helped, being able to witness one of the most talented pitchers of this generation, Clayton Kershaw, pitch a historic game. Based on the game, I would absolutely go to another game. Will I attend as many in the future as I had in the past? Most likely not in the foreseeable future, but that will probably drive my spend to sit in more luxurious sections of the stadium where it is less congested.