Last Thursday, right before the start of the NFL Draft, got a text from a college buddy saying, “There will be no MLB this year.” Immediately went to MLB.com but didn’t see any news of this, so asked my friend where he heard it. He replied that he just finished a Zoom call with some of his high school buddies, one of which is now a big-wig lawyer and buddies himself with the chief counsel for the Cubs. Supposedly, the details were being worked out.
Well, here it is nearly a week later and no news on that at all has leaked out. Is it possible they’re preparing to cancel the entire season? Sure, it would be foolish for them not to have an announcement ready should it come to that. But it seems the opposite is happening, as there are more plans being developed for a partial season, including another realignment plan, one with the Mets and Yankees in the same division.
And for what it’s worth, got an email today from my Summer Collegiate League team, saying that they have their own plan for a shortened season to begin on July 1, assuming games are allowed to be played by then. Usually, our season begins the last week of May.
Where do you stand on the chances of the season happening? Are you more optimistic or less than you were on, say, April 1?
Without the ability to have testing with results in less than 24 hours I don’t see how they can play. Even if you expand rosters to 30 players and have a condensed season of 100 games all the players,coaches trainers,umpires, MLB reps still need to be quarantined for the entire season. What about travel??? Playing in Texas and Arizona may be a feasible way of eliminating travel. Finally you’ll need permission from Governors to be able to play. Not sure how this gets done.
Why is my comment waiting moderation? Hi Brian. I’m not getting a reply message in my mailbox to this post. Can you help please?
Because you didn’t type the same email address.
Instead of 1959 you had 959.
Thanks Brian. I knew it had to be something I did lol
Its tricky due to all the support staff which would have to be in place even if there are no fans. And if one employee or player gets it, the sheer volume of the contact tracing could quickly decimate one or two teams. That would knock them out for two weeks and then you’d have lost a sizable chunk of the season.
The owners and major league baseball are losing money so they will try to have a season. Money drives many decisions. There will be a season unless there is a significant spike in cases because of the States opening in May. I hope that our readers and their families are healthy and safe.
I cant see it personally. The last thing they need is a player get COVID-19, die from it or be severely compromised, and have MLBPA file a billion dollar suit. A team takes several hundred people to run. The amount of isolation required and still play a contact sport is a lot to envision for the moment.
Really good read I wanted to share:
https://apple.news/A_e8W8FRUSUiTpx3vH9ypxQ