Baseball is considering playing in empty spring training parks, with no fans and quarantined players. But the logistics of such a plan would be extremely complex, and perhaps insurmountable. Story: https://t.co/TphgvYsCrt
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) April 4, 2020
At this point, I think this is the only way we get a 2019 MLB season. I was like most of you…I thought this would all blow over by the summer, but as things seem to only be getting worse, I’m growing less and less optimistic. President Trump held a call with most of the major American sports commissioners over the weekend in hopes of getting sports back on track, but things still look grim. In response to news of the call, California Governor Gavin Newsom basically said he doesn’t even expect the NFL starting on time.
The NFL season starts in September. Sep-fucking-tember. If Newsom doesn’t even think things will be safe by September, then how would we be able to play baseball in places like Minnesota, where it starts snowing in like October?? Unless…the league quarantined players at Spring Training facilities. I really think this is the only chance we have at a 2020 baseball season.
In theory, you quarantine all players in Arizona and/or Florida, only allow them minimal access to the outside world, and don’t allow fans to attend games. Yes, this sounds like a dystopian novel written by George Orwell, but it’s the only shot we have. Plus, there would be less risk of exposure if all 30 teams were headquartered in just one state (Arizona or Florida). There are ten Cactus League stadiums in Arizona (the preferred location in terms of weather), and if they were to double up on games in each stadium, it’s totally possible to get in a sufficient amount of games to be considered a legitimate season.
However, all it takes is for some idiot to break quarantine and expose himself to COVID-19 to put an end to this fantasy. I mean, how likely is it that you keep almost 900 players and staff from exposing themselves to the outside world? And then there’s the whole minor league situation, which would be even harder to contain. In a perfect world (under these circumstances) MLB executives would find a way to make the Cactus League home to the 2020 MLB season…but if we were living in a perfect world, COVID-19 wouldn’t exist either.
Comments are closed.