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Chinese Professional Baseball League team will have robot mannequins fill in as fans at games

As the Chinese Professional Baseball League starts its season, one team has gotten creative about "filling the stands" during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Rakuten Monkeys will play games in front of robot mannequins in the audience dressed up as fans, according to the CPBL official website

With social distancing measures still in place across Taiwan, where the league takes place, it plans to host games for the 2020 season that starts April 11 without spectators. 

Fewer than 200 people will be allowed in the stadium, according to the Taipei Times. That includes only players, coaches, team staff, ballpark workers, league officials and the media.

The league start has been delayed twice: from March 14 to March 28 to Saturday.

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Monkeys general manager Justin Liu said the move is a light-hearted way to market and also maintain safety. 

“Since we are not allowed to have any fans in attendance, we might as well have some fun with it,” Liu told the CPBL website. “We went with 500 robot mannequins to comply with the current CDC guideline.”

Major League Baseball said Tuesday it is considering a scenario in which all 30 teams play in Arizona but noted it has not made a final decision on anything.

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