Every MLB park will have extended protective netting by Opening Day

You no longer need to wonder about when every Major League Baseball team is going to get with the program and work to protect their fans against foul balls and screaming liners. MLB announced on Thursday morning that every ballpark will have extended protective netting in time for Opening Day 2018.

As MLB notes in their announcement, many teams had already extended their netting to or beyond the recommendations of the commissioner’s office. However, there were still holdouts until this announcement.

The Yankees were one of the last teams to get in before this joint agreement, as they announced on Jan. 10 that the netting would be extended, months after one of their fans was injured by a 105-mile-per-hour foul ball. As stated, the commissioner’s office had already made recommendations for extending the netting, and had spoken of “redoubling” efforts in this arena following that incident. It seems that September injury put the rest of the league over the edge and convinced them that protecting those in attendance was the right thing to do.