It was supposed to be a raucous celebration for players and fans alike. 2020 Opening Day at Nats Park was going to be full of pomp and circumstance: banners being raised, players showing off their new championship rings, and tens of thousands of D.C. fans cheering for their 2019 World Series winners.

Instead, on a muggy July Thursday evening, there was nothing but a smattering of claps and a few cheers from about a dozen people standing outside the centerfield gates at Nationals Park on N Street.

And the World Series flag goes up. Any other season, this would be greeted by an explosive roar from thousands of fans. But in 2020, it’s met with a smattering of claps and a few cheers (at least where I’m standing). pic.twitter.com/cJsn5VHFHR

— Matt Blitz (@WhyBlitz) July 23, 2020

Welcome to 2020’s baseball season, one unlike any other in Major League Baseball history.

This abbreviated, delayed, and fan-less campaign is, of course, due to the still-raging COVID-19 pandemic. Teams are playing only 60 games (as opposed to 162), all against geographically close opponents and inside of nearly completely empty stadiums.

Not even the racing presidents are allowed inside.

“It’s kinda a gut punch,” said Ted Peters (who’s also known as “Captain Obvious” to Nats fans) as he stood outside of the centerfield gates. “You want to have your victory lap and experience everything with the fans you were here with when we won a World Series. We want to experience that together.” Peters said that last year, he drove up from his Haymarket, Virginia home to attend about 70 games.

While he understands why and said he’s doing his part by masking up and staying home, it’s still a bummer. “I miss this place so much. Not just the building, but the people we come here with. They become family.”

Peters wasn’t the only person who arrived to mill outside of the baseball park on Thursday night.

Kenyon E. McAfee, a native of Northwest D.C., has been an usher at Nats Park since 2011. His post is between sections 117 and 118, right at the top of the concourse. On opening night, he dressed in his usher’s uniform: a blue Nats collared shirt, a Nats hat, and a name tag. He also wore a big 2019 World Series Championship ring. “I want to thank the Lerners for this,” he said with a laugh and a flash of the ring.

But McAfee wasn’t there to work. After all, no fans mean no ushers. He stood outside of Nats Park moments before the first pitch to reminisce.

This was the place where he had his first date with his wife, he said. It was at this ballpark that he’d made so many memories and friends, some of which he’ll never see again. “COVID has taken a few ushers away, so I want to pay homage to them … The friendship I’ve made with many of them over the years,” he told DCist.

McAfee said he loves baseball and is glad the Nats are playing, but he’s still been left wanting. “I miss the fans as much as I miss the game because you’re talking about people I’ve known now since 2011,” said McAfee. “And so they are the ones I really miss not being around now.”

While Peters and McAfee are sad that they can’t see the team they love in person, Hayden Bluth of Arlington is angry. Outside of the centerfield gate on opening night, he held a red sign that read “Sell Us Tickets.” He told DCist that it makes no sense that tickets can’t be sold to the game. “There’s no reason why we can’t sit outside in the upper deck…socially distant and wearing masks. Sign a waiver, whatever you want me to do,” he said. “I want to be in there watching baseball.”

Bluth admits he’s a “diehard Mets fan,” but said he attends about 30 games a year at Nats Park. He is upset with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (though no MLB ballpark is currently allowing fans inside) and thinks if people are allowed to protest, then “a few thousand people socially distant…puts nobody at risk.”

Bluth said he plans to be outside the stadium for all 30 planned home games making his case. “I’m going to express my freedom of speech to show how disappointed I am,” he said. “I want to be allowed to be where I believe it’s safe and acceptable for me to be. I want the freedom to choose that.”

The team did try to add some pageantry to the game, even if it was only shown on television.

Dr. Anthony Fauci threw out the first pitch (though it didn’t go so well) and Bowser gave the traditional “play ball” announcement. Pre-game, every National and Yankee player kneeled for 60 seconds while holding a long, black cloth in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. However, no player kneeled during the playing of a recording of the national anthem from local favorite DC Washington. The World Series flag was also raised.

Once the game started, if the people standing outside listened very closely, they could hear pre-recorded crowd noise, which is supposed to make the ballpark seem less empty for players and fans watching at home.

All of this came mere hours after it was announced that the Nats’ 21-year-old superstar Juan Soto had tested positive for COVID-19 (he’s currently asymptomatic) and that MLB’s playoff field was expanding from 10 to 16 teams for the 2020 season.

About an hour into the game, the Nationals were down 3 to 1, but outside the stadium one would never know that there’s a nationally televised baseball game going on just beyond the centerfield gates. The streets were quiet, and a couple walked their dog in front of the ballpark. Cars were driving on streets that would be normally closed on game days. Peters, McAfee, and even Bluth were no longer there.

Down the block, socially distant patrons drank beers and watched the game on big screens at the Bullpen and Atlas Brew Works . For them, the game could have been happening thousands of miles away and not just a few steps.

A short time later, lightning flashed and rain came down in buckets, forcing the game to be called in the 6th inning and giving the Yankees a 4 to 1 win over the defending champions on the opening day of the 2020 season.

By then, most fans were watching the game as it’s meant to be, at least for this season… on television at home.