Here's the pitch: Pirates set to begin unprecedented season amid coronavirus pandemic

For the first time in 293 days, a game between two Major League Baseball teams will be played at PNC Park.

The Pirates host the Cleveland Indians in an exhibition game at 7:05 p.m. Saturday — with the game being carried on radio and television. It’s the first of three preseason games with the Indians. The teams also play Monday night at Cleveland and Wednesday night back at PNC Park.

The Pirates begin their regular season July 24 in St. Louis. In any other season, the MLB schedule would already be past the All-Star break.

But this isn’t an ordinary year, and it’s only going to get weirder. With covid-19 restrictions, no fans are being allowed into the ballparks for the foreseeable future. But the consensus seems to be that baseball with restrictions is better than no baseball at all.

“I’m excited about the season,” said John Wehner, a color commentator for Pirates broadcasts and a former Pirates third baseman. “I’m really looking forward to baseball again even though there will be no fans, no crowd, total silence. It’s going to be eerie.”

But just because fans are not allowed inside the ballpark doesn’t mean some fans won’t be showing up.

Courtney Beth Conte, 38, of Carroll Township and her mom usually attend about 10 Pirates games a season. They were planning to show up for the first exhibition game even if they had to watch it from the Clemente Bridge.

It turns out that Courtney’s mom has a conflict Saturday night. So they switched their plans to Wednesday night’s game. That day just happens to be the one-year anniversary of the Pirates/Cardinals game at which Conte sang the national anthem.

But why not just stay home and watch it on TV?

“We love being at the ballpark, and I guess it’s just kind of a way to welcome the Pirates back and get baseball back. We went to the last home game against the Reds last September, and there hasn’t been any baseball since that we’ve been able to see,” Conte said. “We want to get down there as soon as there is baseball. Obviously, if they were letting fans in the stands, we’d want to be there, but we can’t. So this is the best thing we could come up with.”

Michelle Barwell, 49, of Greenville is a Pirates season-ticket holder. Although disappointed she won’t be able to attend games this season, she’s thrilled that baseball is back.

“It’s been such a huge void. I’m so happy,” she said. “It’s what I spend April to October doing. If I’m not there, I’m listening to it.”

Barwell, a doctor, admitted being surprised that the Pirates and other teams are playing at all.

“I think it’s probably risky for them to be playing,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s the safest decision, and I didn’t think it would happen. But they decided to take that chance, and I’m not going to tell them not to. I miss baseball.

“The fact that there is a game against Cleveland (Saturday), I’m finally letting myself start to get excited.”

But what will it be like for the Pirates to be playing baseball without fans?

“I think it’s going to be more difficult for the players,” Wehner said. “To go out there every day without any buzz in the air, I think it’s going to be hard for them to get up every day. I hope I’m wrong.”

Veteran sportscaster Stan Savran, whose career in Pittsburgh spans more than four decades, said he doesn’t think a crowd has as much of an influence in baseball as it does in hockey and football.

“We all remember the crowd at PNC Park in the playoff game against the Reds in 2013,” Savran said. “But baseball, the way the game is, it isn’t as emotional as hockey and football are because of the contact.

“So I don’t think (the lack of fans) will have a negative effect on the players. The home-field advantage is less in baseball than any of the other three major professional sports. It will just be odd. It will just be strange.”

Wehner agreed and said that atmosphere will create challenges for the announcers, too.

The Pirates broadcast team will be at PNC Park to call the games on location the way they always do. But unlike the traditional setup for road games, where the broadcasters travel with the team and call the games on location, the announcers will remain in Pittsburgh, calling the play-by-play from the AT&T SportsNet studio.

“It’s going to be really weird when the team is on the road,” Wehner said. “We’ll be looking at monitors instead of looking at the field, and so we’re not going to be able to see everything the way we normally see it when we’re watching the game live.”

Wehner also wonders what the production crew will do to replace the crowd shots that often fill the down time on a telecast.

“We may see more analyzing, more replay and breaking down of techniques and fundamentals,” he said. “I’m guessing we’ll learn how to fill gaps as we go along. We’ll see how it goes.”

Regardless, Wehner said he’s happy to have baseball back.

“I hope everyone can stay covid-free and can play the season in its entirety,” he said. “It’s going to be weird, but I’d rather have it be weird and have baseball than not have baseball.”