Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ll have to continue to wait for answers on Major League Baseball’s investigation into the Red Sox regarding their alleged misuse of technology to steal signs. Commissioner Rob Manfred did reveal to ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt on Wednesday that he’s “done” investigating the matter. Manfred has not had time to write a public report yet, though, but he will issue a verdict sometime before the season begins (via Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times).
Of course, no one knows how long the coronavirus will continue to delay the campaign. Thursday was supposed to be Opening Day, but that event (if it comes at all this year) is probably at least a couple months away. However, Manfred is hopeful that the league will be able to ramp back up within the next several weeks.
“My optimistic outlook is that at some point in May we’ll be gearing back up,” he said (per Evan Drellich of The Athletic). “We’ll have to make a determination depending on what the precise date is as to how much of a preparation period we need.”
That’s at least somewhat encouraging. But sadly, such a late start seems sure to render a typical 162-game season impossible. Manfred admitted as much, telling Van Pelt (via Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle): “Obviously our fans love a 162-game season and the postseason format that we have. We’re probably not going to be able to do that this year. I think that’s clear.”
Despite what’s sure to be a shortened season at best, Manfred’s confident that MLB, whenever it returns, will play a role in “the healing in this country.”
Hopefully the dont have the All Star game.
There’s 0% chance they cancel the ASG
There’s 0% chance some dumb virus is going to… oh crap
Everyone said the same thing about March Madness, look at what happened there.
There’s no comparison with March Maddness. That was ongoing when this broke out
We’re talking about the ASG for a season that won’t start till the pandemic has somewhat died to, at the least
And pssst. It makes WAY too much money for them to cancel it
So what let’s base all stars on 30 games? Maybe 40? Any hot streaks get voted in?? An asg would be stupid n a waste of time and hype.
Yeah because there is more money to be lost on the all star game than there was on March Madness as well as the NBA and NHL seasons. Yes there is way too much money to be lost haha just wow
Think for a minute. Why on Earth would MLB pause the regular season for four days to play an ASG in July after delaying the start of the season until May or June?? What they SHOULD and hopefully WILL do is reschedule the ASG to a date that falls after the postseason, whenever that will be. It can easily be done since the game is in LA. Then they can use that 4-day July hole in the schedule to make up 3 or 4 games that were lost because of the delayed start. Now THAT is what you’d call REAL common sense.
My guess is they cancel the ASG but have some sort of voting mid-season (relative to the start) to determine who should be declared an All-Star (typically will need this designation to stand for career/HoF and other considerations)
Honestly, if it isn’t going to be ready until August they just need to cancel the season. They won’t though.
That would be good for the Mets. Only losing Syndergaard a couple of months if that happens..
You… uh do realize he said end of May.
Lmao “let’s just complain about nothing actually written!”
“My optimistic outlook is that at some point in May…” What does “optimistic outlook” mean? It means best case scenario. What if the worst case scenario happens? Or even just the expected?
Yeah Manfred said best case May. With the virus growing like wildfire in the U.S. that isn’t happening. He said worst case they won’t have a season.
@commomsense, is Manfred an infectious disease doc or an epidemiologist? End of May is beyond unrealistic. Common sense (not you) would tell us, if we listen to the scientists, that the season won’t start until MUCH later than late May or even late June. Just cuz the commish said it, doesn’t mean it’s gonna happen.
No, they should play as many regular season games as they can get it. It is both what the fans want and the players need – taking a year off is not good for a career
The playoffs should be cut in favor of more regular season games however, and possibly even just eliminated completely for this season. (They wont do that though, as the inflated tv revenue is too much to pass up)
I’d go the other way, forgo some regular season games in favor of another round of playoffs, since there is not going to be time for a legitimate race for playoff berths.
My thought is, if you’re only going to have 2-3 months worth of a season, why devote so much of that time to having a select few teams playing for an outcome no one will ever truly respect in the end?
As you said, not enough time to truly decide the births. So I stand by it; dump the playoffs, and give us all those regular season games we could be getting instead. Better to have all teams playing games all day long than wait around for solely a single west coast scheduled, fewer than 3 hours, Dodgers against the Brewers contest
I get your point but if we are cancelling postseason let’s just cancel it all. There is no season without a postseason. I also think a half a season of regular season is enough. Football has been 16 games(going to 17 and both basketball and hockey are 82(half of baseball). I’m not advocating for shortening the season going forward but I’m fine with a champion being crowned with a half a season of regular season games.
He hasn’t had time to write the the public report? Seriously? What else has he been really doing? What crap
He is horrible. I don’t know how he has a job
because he’s just a puppet for the owners.
He really is
How dumb are you?
How many negotiations do you think the union is going thru RIGHT NOW because of COVID 19? You really think the commish isn’t involved in negotiations over pay and service time? He’s got plenty to do that’s more dire to MLB and MiLB before issuing a suspension to a guy without a job
I was just saying that I don’t know how he has a job. I wasn’t necessarily agreeing.
Just because a comment is below yours on this site, MetFan, doesn’t mean it’s to you
I’m replying to the genius you replied to
While I am sure he does have a few other things on his plate, not really that much. There is no end in sight regarding coronavirus and anything there discussing about the upcoming season is a waste. Until the pandemic starts to clear and then they get a time table… any discussion there having is a waste of time. Hypothetical’s at best at this point, therefore a waste of time. So that just cleared up 80% of his time ….
Not as dumb as you, dummy.
Wait why hasnt he written it? He should have plenty of time with no baseball action going on. It’s probably a juicy story, gotta build suspense. Cant wait to see if Boston ends up in the same boat as the Astros.
There’s the negociations with the player’s union about service time, pay for minor leaguers, and probably teams trying to figure out how to profit off of all of this, trying to figure out all the other things that will spin off…
Don’t get me wrong, I’m no fan of Manfred, though frankly no commissioner has ever had half the will of Judge Landis, but don’t be surprised that bigger issues are going on.
I’m digging the idea of double headers every week.
some sort of double-header schedule is exactly what they should do. real double-headers not day/night crap.
This is heresy! If he knows he needs to spit it out, this is nuts.
he is not going to do anything to the beloved Red Sox. the bias is real for a few teams and they are one of them.
I’m intrigued by the 30 team tournament. Double elimination until 8 teams are left and continue with the regular postseason bracket. Have all games use the DH to mitigate pitcher injuries and determine home field advantage based off the 2019 win-loss records.
Personally, if it came down to that I would rather they just cancel the season.
Any baseball > No baseball
To a degree, yes. But, if a season is going to be that short than a real season would be meaningless. Maybe have some kind of tournament with players who volunteer to participate, but consider it a one-off and not a “season.” Maybe invite, if it is safe, international players to participate too. Have fun with it so we get to watch games, but a season that does not resemble what the sport is should not be forced.
Assuming we aren’t gonna be allowed to attend games come June or July as schools are already bracing for not going back and beginning distance learning and China has been dealing with it since 2019 (5+ months), doubt any city allows that many people to fill a stadium and be that close to each other for the next couple months.
Play games Monday through Friday, double header once a week. Broadcast games at night for people still at work. Saturday and Sunday let players rest and travel. Increase rosters to 40 all season lomg
If you start 1st week of July you can squeeze in 82 games which will take you to end of September and resume playoff baseball.
Sucks to not be able to attend games but if you want baseball it’s pretty much no fans in the stands or bust at this point.
The reality is China didn’t deal with this until December 31st when they notified WHO. Wuhan was put on quarantine about two months ago. The first known US case was a week before that quarantine. So do we really know anything?
I think we have to assume that COVID-19 has been all over the world for months now. I’m not here to debate politics or government because obviously no one saw it coming, but we’re behind the eight ball as world for the foreseeable future.
Given we are being lied to as a country at every turn, no. We do not
take that liberal cheering elsewhere. especially after your party’s performance over the stimulus.
Christ, here we go with the political nonsense
We know that COVID-19 deaths are currently increasing at a rate 33% per day. We are now up to 1,080 deaths. At the rate of 33% per day we will pass CHINA (3,300 DEATHS) in 4 days, SWINE FLU (18K deaths) in 10 days and the FLU SEASON (20K) in under 10.5 days. Then things really pick up because 33% of large numbers gives you large numbers of deaths every day. If 33% continues we reach 3MM by the end of April. This is why people talk about the importance of social distancing for flattening the curve (reducing the 33% rate down to zero, like China has). And I haven’t even really factored in how the hit on hospitals is going to increase that 33% rate. A big chunk of the reason people will die is lack of ventilators, medical supplies like masks and gloves, doctors and hospital beds. Those are already being stressed and we haven’t even gotten going. Oh, and we just passed Italy in number of case and should pass China today and we are roaring…. Too many deniers walking around as if nothing is happening, spreading the virus.
More like too many people believing everything the mainstream media tells them. They have those special words they love to overuse to scare everyone. Words like pandemic, soaring, surging, and their newly coined term “social distancing.” Then we have the governor of California quoting ridiculous statistics. These inflated numbers come from the Imperial College and are outrageously overstated. The virus is almost gone in China, so why is it going to be so horrible here given our superior health care?
Do the numbers yourself. You can watch it day by day yourself as I have. Deaths have been increasing 33% per day for several days now. Plug in 1,080 deaths and increase by 33% per day. Use your own brain if you can. If you don’t believe the basic math that is already happening, explain why. I’m listening.
Watch the numbers daily here and calculate the rate of increased deaths yourself.
worldometers.info/coronavirus/
Check the numbers daily at this site and calculate the rate of increase yourself. Adjust your spreadsheet accordingly.
worldometers.info/coronavirus/
btw, one of you deniers said we would never reach 1,000 deaths a week ago. Only one week later we did. HA! That’s a denier for you. So we’ll see how quickly we pass China, the swine flu, and the flu season… Probably within a couple of weeks, as the current rate deaths suggests. My guess is the deniers will be wrong AGAIN. And as always the deniers will continue to deny with typical intellectual dishonesty.
You can do the numbers yourself or at least you ought to be able to as a baseball fan. Start with 1,080 deaths today. The death rate has been 33% per day for several days now. Add 33% each day going forward. See where we are after 7 days, 14 days, 21 days, etc. Do it for yourself. If you don’t believe the numbers, explain why. Do the math if you can and explain yourself rather than being a lame denier.
You think you have superior health care to China? You don’t actually have a health care system in the sense that most forward thinking countries have health care.
I lived in Wuhan for 6 years. America’s health care system is MUCH better.
It’s got nothing to do with who has better healthcare. China locked down the society and prevented the spread of the virus. We haven’t done that. They have pretty much stopped new cases and deaths from occurring. Our rates of new cases and deaths are exploding.
I’ve been saying a May start is realistic. In fact, the other day Mark Cuban said that he would “take the under” on the NBA season starting June 1. Good news.
Just because the season might start doesn’t mean fans are going to be allowed immediately. Maybe they play a month without them. And that’s ok.
Idc about the Trashtros or Trashsox cheating I just want baseball. N95 mask for everyone and 10 gallons of purell a game and lets get this season started now.
Guys…. I want life to go back to normal, too. I miss baseball. My friend from Philly called me today and we realized for the first time in nearly 12 years of friendship we had no sports to discuss. This is all we talked about. We agreed we missed baseball, etc. but the season is over. We need to accept that 2020 is a lost year for sports and other things.
This social distancing and quarantining will continue for a long time for safety reasons. If it’s gonna be, lets say, minimum 2 more months of this, that takes us to June…. You really think folks are gonna stand in crowded, packed lines and shuffle into a place with tight seating to just…sit there…and breathe each others air?
If baseball comes back, it comes back in subscription form as a e-sport broadcast from tightly controlled stadiums that only have the necessary personnel.
I know I’m sounding pessimistic, but the reality is social distancing, isolating ourselves from each other- is the only way we get past this.
Maybe in a couple of years?
I know most will tell me I’m wrong and most think I am being extreme etc. I love baseball. I miss spring training, I miss going out, my bro’s birthday is tomorrow and it’s gonna be a Zoom get together. It sucks. I cried when I realized why.
I want baseball back. But I think the old stadium model is over for a while. I look forward to maybe watching games in a year under a more controlled format.
You have to be a troll right? A couple of years? Wow. MLB will be in full swing by July. Possibly playing games in empty stadiums until September but there will be a season.
I’m not a troll. I take this all very seriously. Every single group that has defied the social distancing, etc. has had infections and serious hospitalizations and death. You really think baseball will survive if that happens in two months when folks flood the stadiums like everything is fine, even with masks and gloves? Also, N95 masks are running low for health care workers. So are gloves. Experts (Epidemiologists, Virologists, CDC folks, etc.) think it’ll take 3-12 months to catch up on supply needs, meaning it might be almost as long to get everything under control beyond social distancing and quarantine.
I miss baseball. I love going to the stadium. I had plans to go to Dodgers and Angels games this year, I’m originally from NYC and I am a die hard Yankees fan who’s gone to many games at old Yankee stadium (I got to meet Don Mattingly and the whole gang on field around 1992 at a Yankee stadium practice through an industry connected friend) I attend around 5-10 games a season and minor league/independent league games.
But it just isn’t gonna happen this year. Things are going to change in a permanent fashion, that will be hard for everybody to adjust to, but it’s necessary. This was an inevitable problem in a globally connected world and with all the crowds that have grown in size over the decades. It isn’t going away just because we all want it to.
Get ready for “real” sports to become “e” sports…
I’m not trying to be negative. I’m just being a realist.
That isn’t a realist though. China is already back and moving. You need some reality with your realism. Flu season is flu season.
I take it seriously as well. I wish others would so we could get it handled sooner. With that said, I do see light at the end of the tunnel. My state, NC, has it better than many. I feel for those in NY. It’s serious, but we will overcome it.
puigpower
China is a different case entirely. China has taken draconian “shelter in place” measures. We have not done that. Many commenters here are going about their lives as if nothing is happening, catching and spreading the virus. And millions are doing that around the country. This is nothing like China. Deaths in America are increasing 33% per DAY. We are at 1,080 in basically a little over a week. In 4 days we pass CHINA. In 10 days we pass the SWINE FLU (18K deaths). In under 10.5 days we pass the FLU SEASON (20k DEATHS). At the current rate of 33% per DAY, which blows China away, we will reach 3MM by the end of April. Because DENIERS. Unless social distancing magically kicks in and flattens the curve, we will have to adopt China’s draconian measures (everyone forced to stay in their houses except for food and pharmaceuticals, enforced by patrols). to prevent catastrophe. Do the math yourself. 33% per day, starting with 1,080 deaths as of this AM. If you think the numbers lie, tell me why.
Reading this thread I now understand why the US is in such big trouble with CV19. The attitude of your president burying his head in the sand is prevalent across your nation. You’re in big trouble with this attitude as the appropriate actions won’t be taken quickly enough and it’s going to be devastating.
Social distancing wasn’t started quickly enough in many places but it’s happening almost everywhere now. It isn’t magic, and it works. Our governments don’t have the command authority they do in China but I am still seeing plenty of voluntary compliance. We just need to stay home as much as possible and steer clear of the knuckleheads when we do have to go out.
You’re right BlueSkies but there are still too many deniers going about business as usual, catching and spreading the virus. If you follow the numbers yourself you can see deaths are increasing at a rate of 33% per day. We will be seeing large numbers of deaths per day and overall total within 1-2 weeks unless something dramatic happens. And I don’t think our current level of social distancing is enough.
Here’s the site to follow day by day. You can plug the numbers into Excel and extrapolate forward on your own.
worldometers.info/coronavirus/
@Sydney. Not entirely disagreeing with you, the lack of leadership at the top is a big reason the U.S. is becoming a hotspot. But one big difference between the U.S. and most other countries is much of authority to govern belongs to the states. Some governors have been far more proactive in their handling of this crisis than others. The statehouses is where we need to look for leadership now.
This is pathetic
You want it to be pathetic because you want me to be wrong. I want to be wrong, too. I pray I am wrong and this is quashed. But I’m not wrong. My brother and best friend offered to swing by today with groceries, etc. and chat. I told them both not to and begged them to go home and self-isolate.
I’m not saying this stuff to get political. This isn’t about politics. I’m also not here to be a nay sayer, a troll, a negative person raining on everybody’s hopes. I’m just being a realist. I watch everybody’s IG’s. I see Gleyber playing COD with folks. I see Aroldis doing his home work outs in his garage gym. I love the game. I watch full classics sometimes and high light reels constantly.
But this thing is bigger than baseball. It’s bigger than going out and having a good time. It’s life or death. For the entire planet. This isn’t just going to conveniently go away because we want it to. It’s out there. It’s part of the world now. We need herd immunity through anti-bodies from people who survive it or get it and have no adverse effects and it runs its course. But even then its mutated twice already in the human populace and as soon as China relaxed quarantine efforts, problems re-arose.
Italy is as advanced if not more so than we are, medically.
This is just the beginning. I miss baseball. I don’t want people to die to sit there and watch guys strike out while you’re texting on your phone hoping for an amazing play at some point in the inning. It’s not worth it. For anybody.
BSpar and PuigPower – I hope you’re right. I hope I’m freaking out and exaggerating. I really do.
But Fauci says it won’t be over any time soon and it is going to get worse. Every single major state governor has said this. The Surgeon General said this.
Look at Italy. Look at Spain. Look everywhere. This is bigger than baseball and I’m sorry I’m being a downer and not just prognosticating stat lines and contracts- one of my favorite past times- but none of that can exist or be enjoyed if we ignore this just to get back to the fun stuff.
China had its first case around 5 months ago. It’s just now getting things under control, but as soon as they relax quarantines pockets rise up again. It’s gonna take 3-15 months minimum.
I hope you all are socially distancing, self-quarantining and generally trying to be vigilant.
Trillion….here’s how this works here. Nobody reads stuff after two sentences.
Trillionaire is 100% right. “God less America” you are going to need it.
*bless
Honestly…the shortened season is intriguing. Owners and TV networks would NEVER shorten it, but less games means more off days. That can equate to less innings and/or more rest for pitchers.
We love the 162 because it’s such a “grind” and it’s “tradition” at this point, which are the things baseball’s culture has been built upon. It’ll be interesting to see if a shorter season actually produces better quality baseball from start to finish.
I’m surprised at how many “cancel the season” comments. What’s wrong with you people?
We are at 1,080 deaths today and increasing by 33% per day. Plug that into Excel and see what kind of numbers you come up with one week out, two weeks out, three weeks out, etc. Unless the deniers stop denying and fall in line the 33% rate will continue and the number of deaths will skyrocket. That’s why the season could be canceled. Deniers catching and spreading the disease because they refuse to take it seriously.
The powers that be are using this to gain more control over us and see how we’ll react. Just as 911 was used as an excuse to start 2 wars and ram through the Patriot Act to take away what remained of our freedom and privacy.
Do the numbers yourself if you can. You can check the daily death totals here:
worldometers.info/coronavirus/
Calculate the daily rate of increase in deaths yourself. Starting with 1,080, increase by that daily rate of increase (presently approximately 33% increase per day for several days now) and project forward through the end of April. See what you find with your own math and brain. No scary powers are controlling you. Take your tin foil hat off and figure it out for yourself.
Just play 81 games. Large enough sample size. 162 is too long anyway. Maybe it will cut down on the Tommy John surgeries. American League champ vs. National League champ. Forget all the silly playoff games which are set up for teams with a couple of great starting pitchers anyway.
Again. Like the ASG, the playoffs make way too much money for them to happily cancel it. They WILL work them into the season if the have one, I’d bet about anything.
Money is going to guide decisions. It’s 30 multi million dollar corporations discussing how to maximize their seasons money. Why cancel the biggest revenue earners?
The money doesn’t matter if no one will show up. If enough people are dying per day almost no one will go to the ASG. The number of deaths per day is increasing by 33%. At that rate bout 10,000 people per day will be dying in 8 days. 24,000 per day in 11 days. The numbers escalate dramatically from there. Do you have the plan, with all the deniers amongst us spreading the virus, to flatten the curve and cut the rate of increase from 33% to zero? China did but American deniers won’t stand for those measures. So we’ll get a lot of deaths first… And the ASG and it’s money won’t matter. Do the math yourself. Start with 1,080 deaths today and increase by 33% per day. Open your eyes.
Whoops. I misread the numbers. In 8 days the deaths per day will be 3,000. In 11 days 6,000 deaths per day. 10,000 per day will come in 13 days. 20,000 per day will die come 15 days. This is if the current rate of 33% holds up. The numbers continue and get really scary from there.
This isn’t even factoring what happens once the hospitals are completely swamped. They are currently stressed and it won’t take long to overwhelm them. Shortages of ventilators, gloves, masks, doctors, beds, etc. People will be turned away. An even higher rate of people will die.
If it continued at that rate, the population of this country would be wiped out in 41 days.
Bingo. That’s why the Public Health officials are deeply concerned. It’s also why the deniers are dangerous idiots.
I am glad that you aren’t making the decisions.
Agree but make it 90 games, 6 each with every league team and 6 games inter league. Blind draw. Could be played in 15 weeks with 1 off day each week.
The league should have teams play double headers in some games like on the weekends so the games can catch up the 162 game season.
Stupid idea considering the injury factor
I hate to break it to you but a doubleheader in modern baseball is two games with separate admissions, one beginning at 1 pm and the other with a different set of fans at 7:30. Owners are not giving up the payday unless games in the new world to come are only 1/2 full of fans and double headers are full houses. Maybe if the Orioles are coming to town or Detroit but the economics of buy 1 get 1 free in baseball don’t really work except maybe under certain conditions. The Red Sox aren’t paying for a $200 million payroll by giving up lucrative gates, souvenirs and parking revenues. Anyway in today’s day of 3 and a half hour games do fans really want to sit through seven hours of baseball whether in park or watching on paid tv? Baseball has enough issues appealing to generation z with their boring product.
Agreed, go for 80 games.
Does anyone miss baseball?
Or do we miss other sports more?
I’m mixed on how I feel
What a waste, the trashstros are not the only thing that cost a Dodgers a World Series but also the coronavirus, they gave away Verdugo with years of control for 4 months of Mookie. They had very young promising talent come out of no where in spring training, Corey Seager finally got his body back. Blake treinen, Kenley and David Price showed very promising stuff. Gavin lux lost out on a full season of what might of been a rookie of year campaign. Buehler is only getting better. This was there year
Like the good doctor said, the virus will determine when things return to normal. Any timeline is pure speculation.
We found nothing.
There, the report’s done.
This may, in fact, be one of the reasons for the country’s late response. Spain thought it was far enough away. “Spain will only have a handful of cases,” said Dr Fernando Simón, the head of medical emergencies in Madrid, on 9 February. Six weeks later he gives out daily figures of hundreds of deaths. The number of dead per capita is already three times that of Iran, and 40 times higher than China.
This is the price of thinking this is no big deal. As you were.
Predicting the weather is way easier that predicting what is going to happen with this pandemic. Infections will rise, peak, then go down. But how quickly that happens is anyone’s guess. Earlier in the month the CDC recommended 8 weeks of limiting groups to 50 or less. That would take us to mid-May. But since then many states have had to go to shelter in place orders and New York has become a disaster zone for the virus. So mid-May is looking optimistic now. And I was optimistic that at least teams could start to get back to work and start playing real games in June. Not quite that optimistic now. Still hoping for a season though, not going to give up on that just yet.
I don’t care about 162 games. How about 80 games?
Write the report and end this Red Sox sign stealing ordeal – enough. Manfred’s handling of this matter continues to be irritating.
So tired of hearing .. (if we start back up) and (if we have a draft)…. all signs point to all of that coming back when the virus dissipates.. countries that had this before the US are experiencing less or. No new cases .. it gets tiresome to see every damn report saying “if.” I am a realist.. this is farrrrr more important than baseball , but all signs point to IT WILL come back .. it’s just when and Mlb and mlbpa want it back this year! And can limb the Olympics .. awful… Japan is on the field scrimmaging.. games starting in APRIL. And we cancel in Japan when Olympics are months later?? Awful
China took draconian measures to flatten the curve and reduce the rate of increased deaths down to basically zero. We aren’t anywhere near that. Millions of deniers are going about their days as if nothing is going on, catching and spreading the disease. Until they are stopped, who knows how long it will take to flatten the curve. My 24 year old daughter turned down an invitation to a party this weekend. A party. SMH. We will probably continue to increase the rate of deaths at 33% per day until that kind of behavior is stopped in its tracks.
I get it that Manfred’s buried due to the season being delayed, but c’mon, just give us the basic outlines of what you found out about 2018. We can wait on the details, but I want to know the general results.
I think he’s a bit overly optimistic. I’ll still be surprised if there is a 2020 season.
We play an ~80/100 game season. A bit of an expanded playoff. Call it a season.