Reports indicate that when the MLB season does begin it will be without fans in the parks, but is that a good idea?
Ther 2020 MLB season can still happen, but nonetheless it is going to be strange in whatever form it arrives.
The season won’t start until at least May. The season most likely will not have 162 games. Multiple doubleheaders and a neutral site World Series have been discussed.
But one thing that seems certain, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, is that if, and when, the season starts, it will be without fans.
“By a matter of weeks, we will be able to play games without crowds [before we can play games] with them,” a team executive told Sherman.
Another official told him that the only way they’ll play is without fans, at first.
MLB has postponed the season until at least mid-May, following the Centers of Disease Control’s (CDC) recommendation to avoid mass gatherings until that time. I’m no government official, but I don’t think it’s smart for baseball rosters to be around each other until the experts say it’s okay.
But baseball is in a tough spot. It seems that the pandemic could at least be somewhat settled down at that point. If the league wants to play this year, this is its only option.
If there is no baseball, not only is it a bummer for fans, but service time and contracts would be totally messed up. Luckily, smarter people than myself run the show. It will be figured out, but it could also get really ugly.
There also is a matter of starting too late, and having an extremely short season. Keep in mind, the Nationals started the season 19-31 last season. If baseball were a 50-game season, last year’s champions don’t even come close to playing postseason ball. History could be totally unfairly written. While a sense of urgency in a shortened season could be largely beneficial for the sport, going from 162 games to a number shorter than basketball and hockey season is too far of a stretch.
But starting the season too early could forever be a black mark on any league that does so.
Imagine an Opening Day in May with no crowds, but a player gets tested positive shortly after. The season would once again be delayed.
In a world of social distancing, it might not be smart to bring baseball players back to work when the rest of the world remains the same.
Baseball’s desire to produce a product goes without saying. So does our love for the game.
We are miserable. I am fully invested in MLB The Show live streams. It’s fake! We have nothing else.
But no crowds is not an automatic solution.
Selfishly, I would not complain one bit if they were playing baseball right now.
But above all, it’s not about feeling safe – it’s about being safe.