MLB ‘Tarps off’ trend, explained: Why baseball fans are going shirtless and how craze started

MLB ‘Tarps off’ trend, explained: Why baseball fans are going shirtless and how craze started originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Baseball season is long. A 162-game schedule is a grind for both players and fans. You have to find a way to keep things interesting over the course of six months, and a few MLB fan bases have certainly found a way to do that this season.

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Sections of fans are going “tarps off,” taking off their shirts, waving them around and attempting to rally their team from the stands.

It’s no surprise that the trend began in mid-May rather than early April. As passionate as some fans might be, you won’t find many who want to go shirtless in 50-degree weather. With temperatures rising and summer approaching, you could see more and more shirtless fans at MLB stadiums.

What started the trend? Here’s what you need to know.

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Why are baseball fans going shirtless?

While going shirtless on a hot day isn’t a bad move, the weather isn’t the primary reason some fans are leaning into the “tarps off” trend. Baseball fans will do anything to spark a rally, from rally cap superstitions to the Nationals’ “Baby Shark” trend in 2019, and “tarps off” is the latest iteration of a superstition aimed at firing up a team.

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The trend began in an effort by fans to rally the Cardinals to a walk-off win. Had St. Louis not come through, the trend might have ended right there. Instead, a walk-off victory over the Royals left fans feeling more emboldened than ever.

Here are more details on the trend and its origin.

What is ‘tarps off’?

Everyone loves when the tarp comes off the field after a rain delay, but that isn’t what “tarps off” refers to. Instead, “tarps off” is all about the trend of MLB fans removing their shirts and waving them around in an attempt to rally their team.

The key element of “tarps off” is that it isn’t an individual exercise. Shirtless fans gather together in a section, or multiple sections, and wave their shirts around much the way fans would wave a rally towel in the postseason.

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One more requirement is to get loud. The trend doesn’t have the same effect if everyone waves their shirts around in silence. Fans gather together, take off their shirts, wave them around and make noise, all in an attempt to bring some energy and rally their team.

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Who started ‘tarps off trend’?

In baseball, the trend began at Busch Stadium when shirtless Cardinals fans banded together in a pair of sections in hopes of willing their team to a walk-off win on May 15. A Stephen F. Austin University club baseball team is credited with starting the trend, and fans from across the stadium joined in after noticing the fun.