MLB and the players are considering starting the season as early as May, playing games in the Phoenix area without fans present. Jeff Todd unpacks the pros and cons of the idea in today’s video.
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Could it? Yes. Should it? No.
There are too many questions and not many answers.
Have you read through the details of their proposal? It would essentially be a localized league, using Cactus League complexes, D’backs stadium, and other fields (probably local colleges and prep schools) to fill out a 12-15 game slate everyday.
Choosing a single location would minimize risk of spreading Covid, and would also allow for league-level temperature monitoring and ongoing testing before every game. Limiting attendance to just the teams, field staff, and a handful of clubhouse staff could probably allow them to keep it to around 100 people per game in total. Seems totally feasible to me, so long as the areas they’re playing in are still practicing some measure of social distancing, and are continuing to test and monitor.
Not going to happen.
Risk vs Reward…..too big of a risk at this point.
Why not let fans log into a secure website via computer phone or tablet where a media director or team can pan through camera feeds with fans and toss them up on television while they play games with no fans in stands.
I wouldn’t do it live. I’d have the media team do like a 10-30 second record of them saying go Padres go Cubs go dodgers or answering questions of favorite player favorite memory etc or showing off memorabilia or fan gear. Something interesting. Then show the pre screened video clips.
Or let fans send in their own snaps,tik toks whatever and let media team screen those to toss up during the game.
Also do tweets Facebook posts whatever social media during the game.
You can find ways to still get fans engaged in the game without being there.
because why would anyone want to watch that? Tik Tok is made especially for those with IQs lower than room temperature and have an attention span less than dogs.
There is nothing I’d like to see less than a Tik Tok at a major league ball game.
IQs lower than room temp you say? You just described the average MLBTR commenter who’s brainwashed by the Coronaphobia.
Or just play the game without theatrics and not waste time. Not sure if you’ve watched a baseball game, but usually the umpire puts the ball in-play and then the starting pitcher throws to the catcher with a batter in the box. This might be a stretch for you with your misjudgement of what is a “Johnny Superscout”, which isn’t really an original term nor should be used by a glorified excel user such as yourself, Jax. But hey, Facebook and TikTok the game to death because that’s where the game will endup the moment you make baseball less about the game.
I don’t hate the heat, like I’ve said on several different posts, Texas doesn’t hit 115, but they do hit 105- 110 with 100% humidity which is depressingly hot, but the Rangers have played through their summers for 50 years (until now… god bless Texas and A.C). As for robot umps, I think if we are going to be doing a season in AZ, why not try robot umps, it may work really well. The staying away from family is hard, but at least we have face time so you can talk to your family, although virtually. All in all, I like the AZ idea, and it’s good for the game (not to mention baseball will be the only sport on, so rating should skyrocket).
It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity. Don’t see this working since a good portion of revenue and interest is from fans buying tickets, beer and hot dogs
Yes, but can you really take this season seriously with how janky and far removed from a real mlb season it would be.
Play fan audio over the loud speakers like they do when college football teams practice for hostile environments.
Really though, the COVID peak is supposed to be May now and it is killing more people by the day, young and old. Not worth the risk, imho.
People from NY flying to Florida by the thousands sure didn’t do anyone any favors – especially when they were supposed to self-quarantine for fourteen days. Didn’t happen and now Florida is averaging more cases per day than they had total, before the influx of people.
Not blaming NY specifically, I’m merely citing what happens when we don’t take a step back and heed the advice of medical experts. Let it moderate – so what if baseball doesn’t start until July or even August if it saves more lives.
but it’s a hoax haven’t you heard?
Or April 2021…
Would the players be quarantined during the entire season? No contact with family? No going out at night? I don’t see ballplayer following that rule?
Lots of suspensions.
most of these guys dont even live near their families anwyay, or are on the road half of tje year regardless. that shouldn’t reasonably be a hurdle.
how nice of you to volunteer their sacrifice. FFS are you a dotard in real life or do you just play one on the internet?
I think players would be willing to make that sacrifice for the $300,00-$15 million they would earn. They young players really need the money and the older guys can afford to bring their families out.
and you know this how? are you speaking for MLB players now? GTFOH jabroni.
What am I missing? Players all tested before going to Arizona, living in hotels controlled in and out. Staff controlled. Bus to and from parks. It’s crazy, but so is the idea of shutting down baseball or any sport until fans are 100% safe to go and not contract CV19.
This stuff about Phoenix not wanting influx of people because they’ll carry CV. The people going to AZ will be one of the highest screened populations in the world. Not to mention the healthiest.
How can you control the entire staffs at the hotels? They will be going home at night, and returning the next day with possibly being exposed. Asymptomatic folks can spread the virus unknowingly. Way too many scenarios for this to go horribly wrong.
Most hotels have almost no one at them right now. It would be pretty easy to find hotels that would exclusively host teams, and it would be pretty easy to find hotel workers willing to live at the hotel for a few weeks at a time for increased pay which Mlb could supplement
The key to this whole deal is a test like the finger prick test being approved by the FDA. You would need mass testing availability that gave results quickly. The finger prick they are working on could give results in 15 minutes. If you can get that and get it on a mass scale, the rest could be worked out
No,
You go to and from ballpark. You can’t leave the hotel, only exceptions emergencies and medical.
It’s a month or more, but it’s doable. No one is allowed to leave the secured areas.
and who enforces that?
Same people who enforce the current stay at home orders.
You’re operating under the premise that there’s a point when everyone will be completely safe. There’s not it’s here now and that’s it. Life will go on games will be played in whatever format or setting and soon.
oh really? and you know this because you have some authority on enforcing games to be played? no you don’t, you’re just another idiot like the rest of the posters.
And you know exactly as much as anyone else…absolutely nothing.
Need some sugar cubes for that high horse of yours?
True. Eventually everyone will get COVID-19. We’re successful flattening the curve beneath the line. Soon it will be time to shorten the curve closer to the line.
nypost.com/2020/03/21/top-new-jersey-health-offici…
NY Post. Ok now we are all set.
I know because I’ve experienced life. Life goes on and it always will. Get used to it. You’re simply a wild narcissist. Good luck with insulting strangers on the internet. That no doubt has contributed to your successful life
There is a problem with your proposition and that is that tests are still incredibly scarce. It would be horribly irresponsible to use those limited tests on the thousands of MLB players, MiLB, coaches, trainers, cooks, etc… when they are not showing symptoms. Now, if tests become widely available in the next few weeks or so that would change, but as of right now I do not think they can justify wasting all of those tests just to play some baseball games.
then they dont test them then. if there is no reasonable expectation of current infection than its not a big risk, and i dont think the state has the power to say no.
Without mass testing availability this will not happen. There is a good chance mass testing will be available by May
not a big risk? by who’s calculation? yours? the current death rate is 2.9%. let’s say half the nation gets infected if we break social distancing/quarantine too soon. you’re comfortable with 5M people dying just so you can watch some baseball?
cool.
Current death rate accounting for asymptotic cases is 0.66%.
How is half the country going to contract CV19 because 750 baseball players go to and from a ball park in one city?
The death rate in the USA is nowhere close to 2.9
Tests will become available in the weeks to come. I don’t see how they don’t. In that scenario, where tests are available, why can’t they play?
oh you don’t see? with all your infinite wisdom please enlighten us on this magic plan that you’ve figured out.
In a senario like the one being discussed you need testing capacity for 1,400-2,000 people. If you tried doing this across the nation you would need testing capacity for hundreds of thousands
I do think mass testing will be available fairly soon
Factor in the 30% false-negative test results factor, and suddenly it doesn’t look so simple.
Virus or no virus, people are going to get sick of being forced into a state of house arrest and joblessness sooner than later.
I think the majority are already sick of it, but some of us are doing a better job of coping than others. have you tried playing the skin flute?
Of course I have, but I wasn’t referring to myself. I’m lucky enough to still be able to work through this as my industry is considered essential.
well bully for you. a lot of your fellow Americans aren’t so fortunate, maybe pause a second and think about what it’d be like to walk in their shoes.
Pause for a second and think about people who are essential. I work at a grocery store and put my health on the line to help people buy their groceries
You think about walking in our shoes?
Am I “fortunate” to still work and make money? You could say that. But it comes with a price of putting my health on the line every day i walk in there
Thank you AndyMeyer! Thank you very much. I hope you’re hanging in there. Be safe friend.
You too thejet. One day at a time
Homophobic failure. And give it a rest sitting around watching tv, Eating not working and collecting government payments is not new to you. It’s just another day. So you have no clue what people with actual lives and careers are going through. You’re a massive failure and you know it
if Arizona is okay with it and the players are okay with it i think the league can shove through a plan that works. they have the financial resources to keep things as contained as possible if they so desire to.
oh they do? put aside your selfishness for once in your life start thinking about those who may be less fortunate than you.
Why are you being such a troll @The People’sElbow? For two of Darkside’s comments you have been right there to shoot down any of his idea’s. What is so bad about what he just said here? How is that selfish?
i mean, i say my fair share of unreasonable stuff, (not out of intent, i will say) but if someone’s going to call me out it would be at least nice if the criticism fit the comment. somebody here seems to think this is a matter of privilege. while i will admit my family has probably been better for this than most have so far, (knock on wood) there is no way that might have been known, and it doesn’t really apply here.
it’s known by the way you speak and the words you type.. my criticism was on point and it does apply.
all you want is baseball to be played at whatever cost, **** what happens to the general public. how is that not selfish?
troll? GTFOH jabroni. if you can’t see that his comment is self serving then you don’t have a brain either.
because i dont want it played at any cost. why do my words say that any more than the people on here literally saying “i want baseball played at any cost.” oh, and sorry i like to speak as if im having an actual educated talk with someone then just using text speak or whatever would mark you as not indicative of privilege.
No, but you’ve clearly proven yourself to be the king of jerkoffs.
Time for some baseball.
MLB wants constant testing available to everyone involved, symptoms or not. That’s a big hurdle currently unavailable. Then thousands of people would have to sign off on being quarantined from loved ones up to the entire length of the baseball season. Players, coaches, field staff, medical staff, media, hotel and more. Tall order. Where are the 5 levels of minor pro players suiting up? Same 10 fields as the big leaguers? Forget about the heat and skewed offensive stats from it. That’s minor compared to all the other hurdles that will have to be crossed first.
We’re close to a rapid test, comparable to a diabetes test. I believe it’s currently waiting for FDA approval. It’s definitely a game changer and will be needed if we want sports back.
Actually it has FDA approval, Abbot Laboratories in Illinois has begun shipping it out to the rest of the country
Actually it has FDA approval, Abbot Laboratories in Illinois has begun shipping it out to the rest of the country. Results in 5-13 mins
Here’s the prose: It’s a stupid idea.
Here’s the cons: major league baseball
Unless you just hate baseball for some reason, I think you might want to look up the definitions of “pro” and “con”.
Also the definition of prose.
And the definition of irony, while you’re at it.
Prose – written or spoken language in its ordinary form, without metrical structure.
Cons – an instance of deceiving or tricking someone.
This thumbnail alone is the best thing I’ve seen in weeks.
Here’s an idea: Find the camps where the Japanese Americans were held during World War 2 by our fine government and let the baseball players live there. The Japanese Americans played baseball in the camps so why not our baseball players. If a baseball player wants to step up and volunteer to help in this war then they can leave the camp and contribute. Otherwise they can stay in the camp and play baseball every day all day because the fans must have their games. This is America, so what if we lead the world in cases and will soon lead the world in deaths, we must have our baseball.
jeez, chill out
hmmm the irony. now all of sudden your moral turpitude has you showing some remorse?
will you lay off? why must you act like im the most absurd person here? havent you taken a look around these comment sections recently?
July is the absolute earliest something like this could be implemented. May or even June is a really bad idea. Just accept that you’re going to have, AT MOST, 80 games. It’d likely be better to have a 60-game season starting in late July with all the same restriction in this proposal. A May start to the season when we’re hitting the peak across the country is a nightmare.
Check the updated predictive models – peak is in the next few days to weeks, and we’ll be well within the country’s medical capacity to manage this in early May. Social distancing after that at the current level saves no more lives.
Thanks, I was wrong on the peak being in May, but the problem I’m seeing comes with easing up too early though. Do you start ramping up again by letting things go back to normal too early? Counties in my state are already extending stay at home orders to end of May, and people I know are having conferences in June cancelled. I think we have to look longer term a getting the active number of cases down to a very low level with rigorous testing and tracing before we ease things up too much.
Correct and we we aren’t that far away. The disease will run its course – we cannot change the area under the curve. In a perfect world we manage the curve to be as short as possible without ever going over the line of medical system capacity. That means yes, strategic, calculated, and closely monitored measures to ease social distancing is best.
The proposed baseball season is consistent with that and really too conservative. Looking at the data and models, we should be back to a “cautious normal” by July.
90% of major events are cancelled for 2020. Things are being rescheduled for 2021.
Huh? For the flu?
I agree, it cant and wont happen before July.
I believe this will all come down to the access of quick testing as well as being able to effectively test for antibodies. May does seem to be hopeful but I think June is very realistic.
Japan tried it… failed
Japan is having no issues with hospital capacity and has a much lower infection rate than other countries with similar population density. How is that a failure?
He was referring to the Japanese baseball leagues. They started up, then got shut down when the virus hit some players.
the people’s elbow needs a knucklesandwich
Maybe start the season on the first day of summer in their own empty ballparks and finish the season in Arizona when the weather gets bad in November/December. Start having fans in the stands by Aug 1st. If they don’t play by July then the season would be over in my opinion.
It should happen. Were at the peak of all of this. Fatalities will spike for maybe 2 weeks. There was only 3 weeks of spring training left. Start back up un early may with spring training they wont need a full 3 weeks. Maybe 2 weeks. Start the season by the last week of May. I an optometric though. We can only hope and pray we have baseball no later than june 1st
Unrealistic Donald. Good try though. Do you even have the ability to examine things?
So in 4 weeks 400K+ people will have this, and you want people to play baseball?
Delusional….
It’s very realistic under the measures MLB is proposing.
I encourage you to examine the data of countries ahead of us. The actual cases and deaths are coming in well below the initial projections, and updated projections reflect that the end is well in sight.
Who the hell is Donald? Dont insult me with calling by your presidents name. Thats the worst thing anyone could do. I refuse to call Orange face Toupee thr lesder of my country
Your opinion regarding this doesn’t matter. The fact is, MLB is doing everything it can possibly do to get the games back on. This Arizona proposition is getting legs.
This is called generating false hope. 400K+ people have this, almost 2000 died yesterday.
So, this is 100% not going to happen. May is DONE.
Flu
Players Union wont put players and families in a position to get Covid-19.
Good try though. Actually, stop dreaming and be realistic.
Flu
Not happening with the family situation and risk. Let’s shoot for an 81 game half season starting on the Fourth of July weekend. Bringing America’s pastime out of a pandemic on the nations birthday is American AF.
Let’s burn through thousands of test kits. protective clothing, and countless other important supplies so we can have baseball. Maybe we can build temporary fields on top of the temporary graves to remind us how important baseball is and how desperately we need something to spectate so we can feel better.
In case you haven’t noticed this really pisses me off. It is irresponsible and stupid to think of how there can be baseball games. I get it. MLBTR is just reporting. It’s not MLBTR’s fault that major league baseball has their heads so far up their behinds that this is what they are concerned about. It’s nothing short of disgusting and shameful.
Everyone should have considered your feelings before coming up with ideas like this. You’re right.
This has nothing at all to do with my feelings.