BUFFALO (WBEN) - Friday would have made for a cold opening day at Sahlen Field, but still a reason to celebrate the beginning of the baseball season.
While that's obviously not possible at this point, the Bisons are being creative with social media in an attempt to bring opening day to Western New York residents at home.
"I think it's the greatest holiday in all of sports," said Bisons Public Relations Director Brad Bisbing. "There's just a special feeling that comes with opening day - hopefully it's the start of spring - and it's the return of our nation's past time. So, we're going to have a little fun, and we're going to celebrate opening day at home on our social media channels."
The Bisons are streaming their 2019 home opener starting at 1 p.m., and they'll also provide some pretty cool things on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for those who decide to follow along.
"One of the things that you'll be able to have access to is our Spotify Frequently Played List, so the songs we play when there's a pitching change or it's the start of the game," Bisbing began. "We'll have a wing mascot race that day so you can watch on social media; we'll have some of the big board challenges that you're used to seeing - we'll bring those too so you can play along with that."
Essentially, the Bisons are trying their best to bring some semblance of an opening day experience right to the community's living room, and Bisbing hopes fans go the extra mile by cooking some dogs, drinking some beer and doing whatever possible to escape from what has become a rather harsh reality.
"I don't think it's going to go from this back to what it was - it's going to be a new norm," he said. "I think that event planners who are the first to embrace this new normal and figure out how to plan their events in this new normal, they'll be successful in the future."
