As summer quickly approaches more and more leagues are starting to come to the conclusion that the possibility of playing baseball this summer is quickly disappearing. Many leagues have been in waiting mode ever since the coronavirus started shutting down businesses and events a little over a month ago. As the days went by it was clear that this shutdown was going to be longer than anticipated and with the eventual reopening of our country there’s going to come a number of hurdles just to be able to function. While major sports leagues have the resources and capabilities to possibly resume play soon, summer baseball leagues wouldn’t have the luxury of being able to operate at all.
Just from the options the MLB is proposing just to have a season this year will tell you how many hoops there are going to have to jump through to actually pull it off. No sport wants to go against what the CDC recommendation would be to allow play to resume. They want to ensure the safety of everyone involved. There are ways that we would be able to have an MLB season this year as we can see from the Chinese and Taiwanese teams who have already started to play games again. By following strict rules and regulations, teams have begun to play against each other all with no fans in the stands. The MLB would have to adopt the same type of rules in order to be able to play this year and while they do make most of their revenue via ticket sales, they can make money up from the broadcasting of games.
If there’s one thing that needs to happen for summer ball leagues to be able to function its that they would need fans at their park. Thats where they are making a lot of their money, they bank on people going to the ballpark and spending money while on location. A lot of these teams are located in little areas across the country and those little areas really look forward to going to those games in their towns and enjoying a ball game on a beautiful summer night. If fans were to even attend games during a possible MLB season they would most likely have to be six feet apart and wearing gloves and masks. The whole idea around it doesn’t seem feasible to me, which is why I believe they will play without fans, at least until the playoffs. When that time comes we may be in a better position to allow more people in the stadiums, but for the season I think there will be no fans.
The Cape Cod League is one of the more premier baseball leagues in the country, it’s a location where many top ranking college prospects go to show off their skills. These include players all over the country and possibly other countries. Most of the kids coming into these towns would be staying with a “host family.” Many host families may be more inclined not to host three or two kids from different parts of the country to stay in their house for the summer. Without host families there wouldn’t places for these kids to stay. On top of the place to live problem, college summer ball has extensive traveling. If the MLB were to have a season they would have to minimize travel by having players stay in one location, this would mean access to many fields all within a short distance of each other. Summer baseball leagues just don’t have the money or resources to be able to pull off a successful and safe season. It’s really unfortunate because summer ball is some of the best times you’ll have playing baseball and it’s really a spot for players to showcase their talent to MLB scouts. Going to be interesting how we see this affects scouting and drafting in the future, but I’m sure you’ll see many leagues follow the Cape and cancel their seasons.
The Washed Up Athlete 