How to watch today's historic Orioles vs. White Sox game for free

This afternoon's game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago White Sox will be closed to the public over safety concerns, a first in the history of Major League Baseball. The entire country is invited to watch. 

|
Tommy Gilligan/USA TODAY Sports/File
A general view of Oriole Park at Camden Yards before the game between the Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles Wednesday. April 29, 2015. Fans are not allowed to attend the game do to the current state of unrest in Baltimore. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

In a completely unprecedented move for Major League Baseball, commissioner Rob Manfred agreed to close this afternoon's game at Baltimore's Camden Yards to the public - but the game is still on, resulting in a historic game that the entire country is invited to watch.

Camden Yards, where the Orioles play, isn't all that far from the epicenter of the protests in Baltimore, leading to concerns over fan safety. Plus, any law enforcement officers assigned to keep watch on a baseball game come at a high cost during a time when the Baltimore Police Department is putting all of its resources into dealing with the city's current unrest. Some activists called on MLB to shut the gates to fans, but not to cancel or postpone the game. And MLB agreed.

"After conversations with the Orioles and local officials, we believe that these decisions are in the best interests of fan safety and the deployment of city resources," Commissioner Rob Manfred said. "Our thoughts are with all those who have been affected by violence in Baltimore, and everyone in our game hopes for peace and the safety of a great American city."

The Baltimore Orioles posted this notice to their official Twitter account:

Fans are invited to watch the game on TV from the relative safety of their own homes or neighborhood bars.

It's hard to imagine what this game will sound like - eerily quiet, more like a golf tournament than a baseball game. We'll be able to hear the players shouting at each other, sounds that are normally drowned out by the buzz of the crowd in the stands. There will be no jubilant crowd roar for a home run. And then there's the sight of a baseball game being played with no fans in the stands - no crowd shots of cute babies in their fan gear, no one to catch the foul balls and home runs. Make no mistake about it, for reasons both inside and outside of Camden Yards, this game is historic. 

MLB.tv's Free Game of the Day is nothing new, but the decision to fill that spot with this particular game today is noteworthy. This isn't just another baseball game in a very long baseball season. By making it free to watch online for everyone outside of the teams' Baltimore and Chicago territories, the entire country has been invited to witness a moment in baseball history and to consider why it's happening.

Check out MLB.tv to watch the Baltimore Orioles host the Chicago White Sox at 2:05pm ET today (4/29/15).

This article first appeared on Brad's Deals. 

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to How to watch today's historic Orioles vs. White Sox game for free
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Saving-Money/2015/0429/How-to-watch-today-s-historic-Orioles-vs.-White-Sox-game-for-free
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe