Dodger Stadium is slowly filling up for postseason opener

Things are heating up at Dodger Stadium. Actually they’re cooling down, if you consider 94 degrees on the cooling side.

The Dodgers’ 2015 postseason opener is less than an hour away, but the stadium is maybe one-fifth full. It could look fairly empty at first pitch.

Shadows, at least, have already covered the field by 5 p.m. and the heat has begun to abate. On-field pregame visitors beneath clear skies included Sandy Koufax and team owners Mark Walter and Todd Boehly.

Alas, the postseason still includes the world’s most annoying in-game hosts, who continue to shout over each other in an attempt to convince the still quiet crowd the atmosphere here is electric.

The stadium grass, which was looking pretty patchy after last week’s AC/DC concert, is back to looking Dodger Stadium beautiful.

There is little bunting around the stadium. The end of two decks are covered with electric ribbon advertising, so there’s no room for it there. And the suite level is so narrow, if they hung bunting it would cover the view from the pricey suites seats. The only place with bunting is at the base of the pavilions and the end of the top deck.

There is one other change to the stadium. Balls were flying out of the stadium during batting practice, and Mets first baseman Lucas Duda hit a rocket that went off the SportsNet LA sign hanging below the covering of the right-field pavilion. It knocked the “R” off the sign.

Duda was born in Los Angeles and raised in Riverside. Maybe he was unhappy over the Dodgers’ lack of local TV coverage.

Follow Steve Dilbeck on Twitter @SteveDilbeck