Dodger Stadium To Extend Protective Netting

Dodger Stadium is joining the list of clubs set to extend their protective netting from behind home plate to the far end of each dugout. The netting will be to protect fans from foul balls, broken bats, and when a bat slips out of the batter’s hands.

#Dodgers Stan Kasten confirms team will expand safety netting behind home plate this year. "We have not yet decided on a configuration. We hope to have an announcement before the start of spring training."
Netting expected to be in place by 1st Freeway Series game March 26

— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) January 24, 2018

Extending the netting was just an idea not long ago, but talks of it quickly accelerated this past September. On September 20th a young fan at Yankee Stadium was seriously injured when she was hit by a line drive. A handful of teams immediately announced that they would extend the netting to protect from things like this. Once the offseason rolled around, many other teams followed suit.

A most welcome development: MLB announces that all major-league ballparks will have protective netting extending to at least the far ends of both dugouts by Opening Day.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) February 1, 2018

As of Thursday, it was announced that all teams across Major League Baseball will extend the netting to protect their fans. The main focus is to provide fans a safe experience at the ballpark. Commissioner Rob Manfred made a statement on Thursday on the subject. Here’s the quote, courtesy of Joe Trezza of MLB.com:

“Providing baseball fans with a variety of seating options when they come to the ballpark, including seats behind protective netting, is important,” Commissioner Rob Manfred said. “Major League Clubs are constantly evaluating the coverage and design of their ballpark netting, and I am pleased that they are providing fans an increased inventory of protected seats.”

Opening Day is March 29th, so that gives teams just under two months to install their extended netting. The Dodgers will open their season against their rival from up north, the San Francisco Giants. The Boys In Blue will plenty other exciting match-ups in the 2018 season. They’ll play a 4 game set at home against the Cubs in an NLCS rematch starting on June 25th. They also will face the Astros at home in a World Series rematch from August 3rd-5th.