Baseball executives (major league baseball specifically or MLB) found their sport in a unique position as the pandemic reared its ugly head. Baseball was the only major, professional sport facing a season that had yet to officially start but was on the cusp of opening day. College basketball and the NBA were both deep into their seasons with playoffs looming while football was several months down the road. This put baseball owners and Commissioner Rob Manfred in a unique planning position.Still, decisions had to move quickly. Manfred suspended spring training on March 12th and suspended the regular season that has March 23rd as opening day.
So what happens now?
MLB has floated several contingency plans. The two prevailing plans mess with tradition and perhaps logic. True, dyed in wool baseball fans know that MLB has both the American and National leagues each of which are organized into three divisions. The divisional structure was started in 1969 when there were two divisions in each league. The plans eliminate divisions.
That is not the weird part. One plan calls for all games to be played in Arizona and teams would travel to stadiums in the state. The other plan adds Florida to the mix. Manfred is floating these plans because teams conduct spring training in these states and actually have parks and infrastructure. Also, both plans would exclude fans.
The list of issues for each plan are long. They fail to address the revenue issue although ESPN could televise the games. More importantly, how can MLB guarantee player and personnel safety? This conundrum MLB is facing merely hammers home the hard decisions the sports world is making.
Baseball is part of our American culture. It has always been a game of politics. Look at Jackie Robinson and what he did at his time. I understand that people are afraid but they should make a poll of all the players and whoever feels comfortable to play and travel should. The players who don’t they could sit this season out. I think it’s that simple. You don’t have to play the game if you don’t want to and keeping fans out of stadiums is ridiculous the players need their fans! There are plenty of seats in a stadium to practice social distancing, you can easily limit people on each floor and set rules that people have to abide by.…
I know so many people are really looking forward to baseball season. Myself included. I grew up watching the rangers and was so excited to see the new stadium.
I miss baseball too. I've heard about the Arizona plan, which is a good idea to get the ball rolling again, but it's sad that fans wouldn't be able to participate.
My family and I are huge baseball fans! I actually had already purchased tickets to a few games for the upcoming season and took a tour of the new Globe Life stadium while it was under construction. I think that keeping fans home is the best possible plan for the current situation, however I do not know how they will generate the revenue. I don't necessarily see ESPN or MLB Network charging people to watch the games so it will be interesting see how they continue forward.
I think it will be right to cancel games until this virus is gone. Yes, sports is fun and all but at the same time no one will go because they are all freaked out of the corona virus going to go into their system and its going to fail. It will be better to cancel all sports until we know for sure that this virus is gone. Because the games and sports and also the players will lose money for people not going and people not watching.