Major League Baseball's pandemic return has been profoundly weird, from creepy virtual fans to piped-in audio

The Hollywood Reporter

"If you've ever seen a Kevin Costner movie, you know that in a sporting world driven by adrenaline and brutality, baseball is poetic," says Daniel Fienberg. "It's a sensory experience. The crack of the bat. The impeccably manicured infield grass. The Doppler-effect undulations of a joyous crowd engaged in the Wave. The aroma of roasted peanuts. The melodic, escapist promise of 'Take Me Out To The Ballgame.' It's communal and it's immersive. What baseball has become, in a world in which we're still not prepared to allow even partial crowds back to stadiums, is an experiment in minimalism, bordering on nihilism. In short, baseball has gone from Field of Dreams to something more apocalyptic like The Postman or any movie theater showing Draft Day."