Opening Day across the United States for Major League Baseball is now just 5 days away. Even if you are not a baseball fan, it is a day where people from all walks of life celebrate the return of spring — and the sign that summer is right around the corner and you can celebrate that.

In Detroit, we pretty much make it an official holiday here in the city. We gather across the state to have tailgates and wait for the official first pitch sometime around 1 pm EDT. A ticket to the game is usually one of the hardest things to get and this year, due to data or science that we still have not seen, it will be even harder.

Thanks, Big Gretch.

I wrote a couple of weeks back here at Red State that the Detroit Tigers’ Opening Day game on Thursday, April 1st was limited to just 1,000 people inside an open-air stadium: Data and Science? 42,000 Seat Stadium Outside, Only 1,000 Allowed in for Opening Day in Detroit. From that article…

This year, the scalpers are gonna make a killing. According to a local report, only 1,000 people will be allowed into the stadium and the place holds 42,000 people.

That is just about 2% capacity.

Outside.

Because of data and science.

The incredibly amusing thing about this is that the Tigers are owned by the family of Mike Illitch who was the founder of Little Caesars Pizza. The widow of Mike Illitch is part owner of the Motor City Casino which is about 3/4 mile away from Comerica Park. The casino can hold (COVID legal) 3,000 people out of 15,000 capacity but an open-air ballpark can only hold 1,000 (COVID Legal)

One is outside and one is inside.

Science and data?

That news went over like the Hindenburg on May 6th, 1937, so the governor consulted again with the data and science, possibly through a Magic 8 ball, and came up with a new solution.

Now 8,000 people can be allowed into a stadium that holds 42,000. The three casinos in Detroit combined will hold almost double that. Shake that Magic 8 ball again, Gretch. From the Associated Press…

Michigan on Friday eased outdoor stadium capacity restrictions before baseball’s opening day but ordered weekly rapid testing of teen athletes amid a climbing coronavirus case rate that ranks fourth nationally over the past week.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said, for now, she does not plan to tighten COVID-19 restrictions her administration had gradually loosened in recent months — noting ongoing vaccinations while also citing concerns about virus variants that more easily spread.

“If we all take our own personal responsibility here, we can keep these things reengaged and do it safely,” the Democratic governor said during a news conference, in which a top state health official warned the state may be at the beginning of a third surge.

Under a revised health order that takes effect Monday, certain outdoor arenas and stadiums — including the Detroit Tigers’ Comerica Park — can seat 20% of their capacity if they have an infection-control plan that complies with state guidance. The cap, which has been 1,000, will rise to around 8,200 for Tigers games.

Crisis avoided.

So the governor, through her Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Department, continues to micromanage every aspect of the people’s lives here, and it is not based on anything other than a dartboard or that darn 8 ball. The other states around us have mostly opened up, yet we continue to lag in key indicators of this state getting back up on its feet. If this is based on the dreamy stats we keep hearing about, why are we still having a problem?

No one in Lansing can seem to come up with an answer.

The Tigers might have a hard time getting more than 8,000 to a game this season if the baseball prognosticators are correct, but they do not need the state to throttle their chances to gather more people. Let people live their lives, and stop trying to nanny people as if you care.

You don’t.

I’m thrilled that baseball is back and starting on time, unlike last year. Yet people need to have the choice to go to a game if they so choose and not wait for our overzealous minders to tut-tut-tut us about going to a baseball game.

Just Make America Free Again — to watch her national pastime as we choose.