While this year's Detroit Tigers Opening Day isn't technically the team's first since 2019, for fans it may as well be.
2020's game, postponed amid the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, was ultimately held in July with no fans in the stands. In 2021, a limited number of spectators were permitted into the stadium for the team's home opener, but festivities were tamed by spiking cases and a vaccination effort still in its infancy.
Friday's event (which also almost didn't happen) marks an apparent return to "normal": Comerica Park will allow full stadium capacity and will not require masking; parties, tailgates and barbecues will again fill the city's streets and bars.