As many of us laid our heads on our pillow and checked Twitter and Instagram once last time before dreaming about the return of sports, Jeff Passan comes out of left field with an absolute bomb. Unfortunately for me I was already asleep, so I didn’t get to read about this developing story until this morning. But holy wow, this is some interesting stuff coming from MLB and the players union. This new proposed plan has been met I think equally with both excitement and confusion. In what seems like a hopeful plan, there are a ton of moving parts that have to go right for this whole plan to actually work. But the MLB issued a statement saying that they are going through numerous contingency plans, working with the CDC to get an okay on different scenarios that could work. The one thing that they stressed is that this plan is not set in stone and they haven’t gone to seek the approval of federal, state, and local officials, or the players association at this moment. The health of everyone involved is of their utmost priority, but this one possible scenario could lead to games being played as early as May.
A big glimmer of hope that this plan could actually come to fruition is the fact that it would have the support of high ranking health officials who believe that they could operate safely and efficiently throughout this pandemic. Now with that being said many people are going to hate a lot of the necessary precautions that go into this whole plan, some of who would even be the players themselves. This is the best version they have at the moment that both MLB and the Players Association leadership are embracing, all backed by federal officials.
Now time to get into all the details of this plan per Jeff Passan’s source. All 30 MLB teams would be centered around one location, Phoenix, Arizona. Games would be held at the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Chase Field, in addition to 10 surrounding spring training facilities and possibly other fields in the area. All of these games would be played without any fans in attendance. The players, coaching staff and any other essential personnel would be held at local hotels, basically living in isolation, only to travel to the stadium and back. The CDC and the National Institutes of Health have all been supportive of MLB’s proposed idea only if the players would adhere to strict isolation guidelines all while promoting social distancing. This would allow MLB to be the first major professional sport to return. Phoenix would basically turn into its own isolated baseball village for months. It reminds me of the tournament held in Cooperstown Village, where all teams would stay on location and the games would only be played at their fields and facilities.
While the May return seems like a possibility, some officials believe that a June Opening Day is more of a reality. This depends on the availability of more coronavirus tests, with a quicker turnaround time. Officials believe that by early May that would be a possibility, as they don’t want MLB’s testing to diminish from the general publics. And while health officials have deemed players as low risk candidates for the virus, because of their age and health, there still has to be necessary precautions to protect the health and safety of the coaching staff, umpires and any other personnel integral for a successful season.
One of the major hurdles that the MLB and players union would have to overcome would be the fact that players would have to be isolated from their families for an indefinite amount of time, possibly 4 and a half months. With many players having families and some with children on the way, it becomes increasingly hard to separate them just to have a 2020 season. The main reason why players would be tempted to leave is the fact that this is one of the realest possible outcomes at the moment and they would like to receive a paycheck for this year. Without a 2020 season, no player would get paid and that would be more than enough to get players to commit to this plan. MLB and the players union had begun discussing the possibility of this plan on a series of phone conferences on Monday. With the uncertainty of how long the virus would affect the country, playing in isolation became the frontrunning idea.
MLB would be losing a huge portion of their revenue in ticket sales, easily the largest part of their revenue coming in at over $10 billion. The league could try and recoup for some of their money having nationally televised games, which networks would jump at the opportunity to have because the network would be one of the only places to see live sports again. Should both parties agree to the deal players could be heading into Phoenix in May, with a two to three week training camp being held while testing the new protocols put in play. Of course there’s a possibility that a player or staff member could test positive for the virus even in isolation, but officials believe that wouldn’t be cause to shutdown the season. Teams would carry significantly larger rosters to combat a player testing positive and even having to deal with the heat of playing in the Summer months in a dry Arizona climate. The possibility of more players receiving salaries and service time would be appealing to the players union as well.
Some of the possibilities being discussed are going to be real weird, and as nothing is set in stone, her are some of the changes that could happen:
• Implementing an electronic strike zone to allow the plate umpire to maintain sufficient distance from the catcher and batter
• No mound visits from the catcher or pitching coach
• Seven-inning doubleheaders, which with an earlier-than-expected start date could allow baseball to come closer to a full 162-game season
• Regular use of on-field microphones by players, as an added bonus for TV viewers
• Players sitting in the empty stands 6 feet apart — the recommended social-distancing space — instead of in a dugout
As you can see many of these are why fans have had more negatives to say about the proposed plan, along with the fact they wouldn’t be able to attend the actual games. Is it a perfect plan? By no means it is, but at the moment it is the best plan that MLB, the players union and health officials are working towards. You may certainly not acknowledge the winner of this type of modified season, but if this plan becomes a reality, baseball would be the only major sport being played. This would lead to baseball’s popularity to increase, despite its interesting format, people would jump at the idea to see live sports again. Both MLB and the players union agree that this scenario is a billion percent better the the reality of them having no season in 2020. Like it or not, this may be the only way we get to see baseball this season. We will most certainly find out more information as the days pass, until then, we miss you sports. Stay safe everyone.
The Washed Up Athlete 