There won't be any fans in the stands for today's game between the Orioles and Chicago White Sox, and everybody knows why. The civil unrest in Baltimore made it impractical to devote police and other emergency personnel to a baseball game, and there was no other practical way to allow this particular game to be played this season.
There is, however, no shortage of local and national media covering the game -- so many news people in fact that the crowd will stretch the capacity of one of Major League Baseball's most spacious press facilities.
No official count of credentials has been announced, but the Camden Yards press box seats about 100 comfortably and the number definitely is higher than that, according to a club official. In other words, it's going to be standing room only for a game that won't draw a single fan.
Why so much news coverage? Well, partly because the empty stadium is emblematic of the unrest that has beset Baltimore in the wake of the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray in police custody. And, of course, partly because it is a curiosity -- something that has never happened in the modern history of MLB.