Cubs' return to St. Louis, start to return to 'normal'

ST. LOUIS — Kyle Hendricks wasn't the only part of Friday's Cubs-Cardinals game that looked at least a step back toward a sense of normal for the teams. Even amid an ongoing pandemic and "disappointing" vaccination rates among the Cubs and other teams, the Cubs' first game in St. Louis since 2019 also featured their largest crowd of the year — 24,282 — and a palpable buzz that's been missing from most ballparks for more than a year.