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It’s official: Thousands of fans welcome at Dodger Stadium, Angel Stadium

An aerial view of Dodger Stadium on March 25, 2020
Shown is an aerial view of Dodger Stadium on March 25, 2020. After a year without fans, thousands will be allowed to attend the Dodgers’ season opener on April 9.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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The Angels open the season in 20 days, and thousands of fans will be inside Angel Stadium to cheer Mike Trout.

The Dodgers play their home opener in 28 days, and thousands of fans will be inside Dodger Stadium to help Clayton Kershaw and Mookie Betts celebrate the team’s first World Series championship in 32 years.

On Friday, Los Angeles and Orange counties received approval to move into the red tier of the state’s coronavirus guidelines, allowing the Dodgers and Angels to sell 20% of the seats in their ballparks.

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That would be about 11,000 seats at Dodger Stadium and about 9,000 seats at Angel Stadium.

The Dodgers and Angels expect to explain next week how they will allocate tickets, according to spokesmen for each team. Season-ticket holders will receive priority.

The San Diego Padres, projected to start the season at 20% capacity at Petco Park, said this week they did not anticipate single-game tickets would be available for the first two months of the season. The Padres have sold close to 14,000 season tickets, with about 10,000 seats available at limited capacity.

The Angels do expect to sell some single-game tickets, team spokesman Adam Chodzko said.

Under the state’s four-tier format, a team can sell to 33% of capacity when its county is in the orange tier, indicating moderate spread of the virus, and to 67% of capacity in the yellow tier, indicating minimal spread.

The Dodgers tied the Seattle Mariners 4-4 on Thursday in a spring training game in Peoria, Ariz.

March 11, 2021

However, on a video call this week, San Diego Padres Chief Executive Erik Greupner said he believed the state might relax the restrictions as the pace of vaccination accelerates. President Biden directed Thursday that every adult in the United States should become eligible to receive a vaccine no later than May 1.

Greupner also said he hoped the Padres would be playing before a full stadium by the end of the season, or in the postseason.

The Angels’ opener is set April 1 against the Chicago White Sox.

The Dodgers’ home opener is set April 9 against the Washington Nationals — 548 days after the last game fans could attend at Dodger Stadium: Game 5 of the 2019 National League division series against the Nationals, when Howie Kendrick hit a series-winning grand slam off Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly.

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Times staff writers Jorge Castillo and Jack Harris contributed to this report.

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