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The Orioles and White Sox will play a game without fans because of safety concerns in Baltimore
(Reuters) The stands at Camden Yards will be empty on Wednesday.
The Baltimore Orioles announced that Wednesday's game against the Chicago White Sox will be closed to the public because of safety concerns amid violence and protests in Baltimore.
There appears to be no precedent for the decision.
An MLB official told Russell Berman of The Atlantic that "after conferring with a historian and several longtime veterans of the game, the league was unaware of any prior examples in which fans have been deliberately barred from attending a game."
The move comes after both Monday's and Tuesday's games were postponed.
Commissioner Rob Manfred released a statement about the situation:
"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. 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 move to play Wednesday's game behind closed doors instead of postponing it may have been necessitated by MLB's unbalanced schedule. This series was the White Sox' only trip to Baltimore this season, and making up three postponed games would have been a far more difficult task than making up two.
With just two games to make up, the Orioles announced they will play a double-header against the White Sox on May 28.
In addition, the Orioles were scheduled to play a three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays at Camden Yards starting on Friday. That series has been moved to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, where the Orioles will play the games as the "home" team.
Michael B. Kelley contributed to this report.
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