ST. LOUIS–One week and a day before the baseball games start to count for real in 2023, an early group of MVP candidates emerged Wednesday at Busch Stadium: work crews getting the field prepped, power-washers cleaning the Stan Musial signature in front of his statue at the Third Base line stadium entrance, among a laundry list of items to address ahead of next Thursday’s St. Louis Cardinals home opener against the Toronto Blue Jays.


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This week, people traveling by the stadium still see signage on site and in Ballpark Village from last season which paid tribute to Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina’s last ride in 2022. Martin Coco, the team’s Director of Marketing and Brand Execution, said the signage would be changed out by next Thursday. That includes the large Ballpark Village banner tribute to Albert Pujols reaching the 700 home run club which will be replaced by 1st Phorm’s original “We’re from the Lou and We’re Proud" banner.

On the field, the grass has yet to get the “Opening Day” paint treatment, but it’s on the to-do list.  

“The guys are fine-tuning the field to make sure it’s perfect for the guys when they get back. We’re doing extra cleaning throughout the ballpark to make sure it's gorgeous when we open the gates at noon on Thursday,” said Matt Gifford, the team’s Vice President for Stadium Operations. “A couple projects are just finishing up around the ballpark, finishing up training our great event staff, there’s just so much that’s going on and we’ve got just under a week to get it done.”

This week, crews also finished the installation of several pitch clocks, part of the MLB rule changes taking effect this year. Viewers won’t see the physical clocks themselves on television, but fans in the stadium will notice them along the first and third baseline and two clocks on the outside of the “batter’s eye” in dead center field.

It appears the rule changes themselves are getting a bit of a tweak with a week left before the season starts.

According to the Associated Press, Commissioner Rob Manfred’s office announced that if a catcher ends an inning on base, at bat or on deck, an umpire may determine the catcher needs additional time and allow the pitcher another warmup throw.

Batters are allowed one timeout during an at-bat, according to the new rules. The league memo said the pitch clock won’t start until the hitter says he’s ready.

The league says more guidance is coming later this week on PitchCom, the device worn by catchers which allowed them to call pitches by communicating a signal to a receiver in pitcher’s hats.