Over the weekend, I went to the home opener and the game after the home opener, my 77th and 78th* games at Pacific Bell/SBC/AT&T/Oracle Park. I think that’s enough games to be able to make wide-ranging claims about the state of the fanbase.
The crowds are so back
All three games in the first home series were announced as sellouts. How many times did the Giants sell out all of last year? Exactly three, according to Alex Pavlovic. And there’s every reason to believe fans will show out again for Blake Snell’s Giants debut tomorrow.
The first Giants games I can remember going to were in the midst of their sellout streak that lasted from October 1, 2010 to July 9, 2017, so I really took those crowds for granted. Since 2017, and even at times during the 107-win 2021 season, it was jarring for me to look into the upper deck and often see entire sections with a single-digit number of people in them.
One might respond with, oh, it’s the opening series, of course the fans showed up. To that, I respond with, erm, actually, I was at the home opener and the third home game in 2023 as well as the third home game in 2022. There was a major difference in both crowd size and crowd energy between this year and the last two. When a “Let’s go Giants” chant broke out in Friday’s home opener, I thought, oh my god, I don’t think I’ve heard one of those in years. The one negative thing about the attendance is that some crooked fans were doing the wave in the upper deck on Saturday. That will need to be fixed.
Basically, while it is the opening series, we had an energy level that we haven’t gotten since 2021, and maybe even before that.
The new Giants are immediately popular
Last year, a lot was made of the fact that Matt Duffy, a Kansas City Royal who hadn’t worn a Giants jersey since the Obama administration, got like the third-loudest ovation during player introductions at the home opener. (Can confirm, I was there.) That was not the case this year. Granted, the Padres didn’t have any former Giant cult heroes on their roster, but still:
The players and coaches mentioned by Baggs were welcomed with open arms and loud cheers. They got much warmer welcomes than the likes of Michael Conforto, Sean Manaea, and Ross Stripling last year. Farhan Zaidi went out and got players with track records of extended recent success, not just “maybe if this guy can return to his 2021 form,” and the fans let him know how appreciative they were, not just by cheering for them during introductions, but by showing up and showing out all weekend.
And it wasn’t just during player introductions–even though Jung-Hoo Lee had a tough series, the fans got very loud for him every time he came to the plate. I can’t remember the last time the Giants had a free-agent addition that garnered that kind of treatment.
Very sparse vendors in the upper deck
As a college student, the upper deck (View Reserve if you’re nasty) is usually my only option. It’s where I sat for both games I went to this weekend. That’s not a bad thing–I think it’s an absolute bargain with the views you get from up there. But for whatever reason, whoever’s in charge of all the vendors barely placed any of them in the upper deck. I noticed one walk by me around the fifth inning, and then I realized he was the first one I’d seen all day. Then I looked around the entire upper deck and counted five total vendors for all 29 sections, and they were all carrying just cotton candy. And it’s not like the upper deck was empty–remember, every home game so far has been a sellout. And it’s also not like there’s a vendor shortage or anything–there were way more down at field level.
This might be a very niche complaint, but I’m someone who doesn’t want to miss a single pitch and doesn’t like spending an inning waiting in line for a Ghirardelli sundae or hot cocoa (depending on what time the game is). I’ve grown accustomed to those items being brought to me, and I hope this won’t continue all season.
What’s the deal with the new lights?
During the offseason, Oracle Park’s lighting system was completely overhauled to now feature LED lights that can flash, flicker, and even change colors. It’s also now the only stadium in MLB to have a spotlight, which I am very interested to see how it is used. In fact, the main reason I decided to go to Saturday’s game was because on a recent episode of the Giants Talk podcast, Pavlovic said that the Giants were planning to go crazy with the new light features on Saturday because it was the first night game of the year. That was ultimately a major letdown, because they only displayed one new feature, and it was before first pitch and likely went unnoticed by most fans.
Yes, it was a quick game that the Giants lost 4-0, but there was still room for them to do something. I’m not saying they should have put the spotlight on Nick Avila, but I went to a game at Coors Field in 2022, and when the Rockies were down a few runs going into the bottom of the ninth, they turned off all the lights for a few seconds and then flashed them in an attempt to get the Colorado faithful hyped for a comeback. It was plenty dark enough for the Giants to do that, but nothing happened. I don’t think it’s far-fetched to say that if they had done something cool with the lights in the middle of the ninth, Jung-Hoo Lee would have hit a walk-off grand slam and the spotlight would have followed him around the bases and he would have been named NL Rookie of the Year right then and there.
In all seriousness, I’m not accusing Pavlovic of lying or anything; it’s just disappointing that I and many others went to this game thinking we would see the new lights on display and then nothing happened. Oh well, at least we got the Camilo Doval bobblehead.
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None of these are meant to be grand predictions or claims about what the remaining 78 (hopefully more) home games will be like. I just noticed a lot of considerable differences in the Oracle Park experience after going to the first two home games. Eventually the lights will flash, I don’t see any reason why the large crowds won’t stay, and hopefully the vendors return to the upper deck, because I need my cocoa.
Oracle Outsider 