Along with the Chinese Professional Baseball League resuming play, the Korean Baseball Organization looks to have a smooth opening early next month in May. The KBO will start preseason games this week and hope that after that they can have a successful opening to their season. Due to early widespread testing and quarantining, South Korea has been able to effectively resume some type of normalcy in their lives, one of that includes the start of their own baseball league, but not without some rules in place to help protect the safety of its players and staff.
One of the main ways the KBO would successfully be played this season is without fans, and we are starting to see this trend become a normality if we want to see any sports played this year. The Chinese Baseball League is already playing without any fans in their stadium, although they do have some cardboard cutouts of cheering fans, even equipped with their own masks. It gives the players a little bit of a sense of normal but there’s no getting away from them missing the roar of the crowd. Dan Straily, an American born player is currently pitching in the KBO and he commented on the lack of excitement and energy in the stands as they prepare to start their regular season.
Straily calls the games boring and even asked if they could play some music in between innings to bring some sort of energy into the game. You can’t deny the fact that having that crowd there, despite them cheering or jeering you, adds a little spark of adrenaline to any player. If you ask me it just takes me back to some of those high school and college games where your crowd would be little to none, and it was up to the players to add a little energy into the game. It can be extremely hard to keep that energy up for a full nine innings, so I understand where Straily is coming from.
Straily hopes it gives him a little edge in the KBO, which is known for their very eccentric bat flips. These bat flips get the crowd going and add to the flare of the way they play the game, but without fans to cheer them on, we may see some of that personality get sucked away. Along with no fans the KBO has added some other rule changes to keep the safety of their players and personnel. Players will have to have their temperature checked twice a day, everyone not in a baseball uniform, including umpires and trainers must wear masks and gloves. If any player shows symptoms, they’ll be immediately quarantined and they will close the stadium where he played his most recent game. If the player tests positive, they’ll use contact tracing to see if their are any other players who will have to be quarantined. Although one of the more stranger rules that will be in place is that they told their players that they will not be allowed to spit.
One of baseball’s oldest tradition that most certainly is linked with the use of chewing tobacco will seemingly not be allowed in the KBO. Straily comments on just how interesting of a rule that seems to him as how he doesn’t believe that his conscious is going to stop him anytime he decides to spit on the baseball field. For some it’s just something that happens in the moment, after years of playing the game and casually doing it, it just becomes second nature at that point. I’m not sure how influenced they are by dip in the KBO, I would assume it’s more of an American tradition, but some players do it every game and I wonder how they would enforce this rule if they adopted it in the U.S. for this season.Anthony Fauci believes that playing with fans is a possibility for baseball this season, but they would have to be quite separated and most likely have to wear masks and gloves. It’s a nice thought but the logistics of it seem to be too complicated to actually come into fruition. If baseball resumes, I see it without fans for this year.
Players are so used to routines and schedules, that this recent halt and waiting period has left them very unsure of the possibility of a 2020 season. Commissioner Manfred has recently made a statement saying that he believes baseball will return this season, so that’s defintely a positive sign. Until the players get a concrete date, all they can do is continue to stay healthy and have their bodies ready for a swift return.
The Washed Up Athlete 