Casey at the Bat

The first section of the poem, Lines 1-12, explores the relationship between the Mudville fans and the game they are watching. Because the team is down to their last at-bat, the fans have begun to lose hope. The fans, so quick to lose hope in a game not that lopsided, entirely lack the kind of die-hard emotional support a home field advantage is supposed to ensure. This indicates that the Mudville team is not known for comebacks, not known for the heart-stopping rallies that define strong teams. And when the first two batters both go down, that “pall-like silence” (Line 4) indicates a funereal atmosphere, despite the home field and despite the presence in the lineup of a batter the magnitude and promise of mighty Casey. The fans should be rallying now—this is where the Mudville team most needs its fans. The fans, however, know all too well that Flynn and Blake aren’t reliable. With the fans’ hopes easily rendered ironic, this section closes with a sense of doom, the fans settling into a “grim melancholy” (Line 11). Many already start to leave. Within the psychology of sports fans, few figures are as widely criticized as home team fans who leave a losing game early.