MLB Opening Day 2021: Seattle Mariners Face SF Giants Thursday

SEATTLE — The 2021 Major League Baseball season gets underway this week, with Opening Day for the Seattle Mariners and the 29 other teams set for Thursday.

The Ms begin their 2021 season at home on April 1 at 7:10 p.m., facing the San Francisco Giants at T-Mobile Park. For the third year running, Marco Gonzales will get the nod on the mound for the Mariners, pitted against the Giants' Kevin Gausman in the first pitching match-up of the season.

The 2021 MLB season will look different from any other year, at least in the stands, as fans will be allowed inside all 30 ballparks after a 2020 regular season that was played entirely without fans in the stands because of the coronavirus pandemic. Thursday will also the first time in many years that all 30 teams will start the season on the same day. In recent years, a Sunday night baseball game was held before a Monday Opening Day.

Teams have varied greatly in the attendance capacity rules set forth before the season. The Texas Rangers are allowing a 100 percent capacity return, which could mean more than 40,000 fans at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas. No other squad is allowing more than a 50 percent capacity.

In Washington, large outdoor venues are generally capped at 25 percent capacity under Phase 3 rules, and a maximum of 9,000 fans will be allowed inside T-Mobile Park for Opening Night. The state plans to reevaluate capacity limits in mid-April.

Related: Washington Teams Gear Up To Welcome Fans Back In April

The Boston Red Sox and Washington Nationals are the teams allowing the fewest number of fans, only permitting 12 percent to start the season, according to The Athletic. Most teams, like the White Sox and Cubs in Chicago and Yankees and Mets in New York, have set limits below 25 percent capacity.

See Also: Baseball Fans Split On Going Back To The Ballpark In 2021

Single-game Mariners tickets went on sale March 25 and were quickly snatched up for the first three games of the season. According to the MLB website, the next earliest available tickets are for the 3-game series at home against the Chicago White Sox, beginning April 5.

For Opening Night, gates open at 5:10 p.m, and fans are encouraged to arrive early. For those watching at home, pregame coverage begins at 6:30 p.m., and the game will air live on ROOT Sports and Mariners.com. Radio coverage will be provided by 710 ESPN Seattle.

Pre-game Opening Night festivities will focus on health care heroes, according to the Mariners:

• The National Anthem will be performed by Dr. Jonathan Awori, Chief Pediatric Resident at Seattle Children’s.
• A group of 44 doctors and nurses from Virginia Mason Franciscan Health and Sea Mar Community Health Centers will appear on video.
• Three health care professionals who have been instrumental in the Mariners ability to safely welcome fans back to the ballpark will be introduced:
  
  • Patty Hayes, Director of Public Health – Seattle & King County, noted for her leadership during the pandemic response and for providing key input on the Mariners reopening plan.
  • Vin Gupta, MD, Affiliate Assistant Professor of Health Metrics Sciences at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington.
  • Karen Dykes, ARNP, clinical infectious disease specialist at Virginia Mason Franciscan Health. Dykes will throw out the ceremonial first pitch.

Fans who are lucky enough to grab a seat can expect several changes inside the park, including enforced social distancing measures, mandatory mask use, self-scan mobile tickets and cashless transactions. Additionally, no bags or outside food are allowed inside the park, to speed up entry times and reduce chances for cross-contamination. Tickets sales are limited to "pods" of one to six fans from the same household.

Learn more about the changes at T-Mobile Park on the Mariners website.