[ESPN] MLB suspends spring training, delays Opening Day at least two weeks

Problem of empty stadiums solved:

https://sports.yahoo.com/taiwanese-...obot-mannequins-to-open-season-211111743.html

 

That's awesome

A buddy of mine who lives in Taiwan said they will be able to have 150 actual fans attend each game, rotated among season ticket holders. Not sure if that is just for his home team, or the league as a whole. They will not have any food and drink vendors, at least at the beginning

 

This seems to make the most sense, if anything is to be salvaged for this year.

Teams have their own facilities where they can house players and employ all the workers, including medical/training staff.

Without all teams in one place allows for more flexible scheduling, which would allow for more games to be played.

Teams still have proximity to 3 actual MLB stadiums (with all of them being domed facilities).

 

saw that earlier, so besides the Nats who else would be in our “division”

would also be interesting when the shutdown ends and we are back at home but playing a different division HOPEFULLY with no west coast teams

 

Astros, Nats, Cardinals, Mets, Marlins

at least if we went back to home stadiums at some point no west coast but damn

 

GCL teams only play within their division to cut down on their travel and cause no one gives a **** whether or not complex league schedules are fair, and the GCL Astros play the Nats, Mets, Marlins, and Cardinals. If that does come to pass, I assume they'll go to a universal DH. The grapefruit league includes a lot of AL teams on the other side of state, and I don't think the MLB wants to make it harder for guys like Alvarez, JD Martinez, and Stanton to get playing time right now.

 

I bet they don’t give a **** about Alvarez

but understand what you are saying

 

I'll bet they give a little bit of a **** about him. He's the reigning AL ROY, he hit almost 30 HRs in half a season. He looks like a man among boys on the field, and hits some majestic HRs. He's 22 right now, and it's not inconceivable to think he could hit 40+ HRs for the next 10 years, not to mention he's about the only star on the Astros who isn't really connected to the 2017. I would think the MLB would absolutely want to market Alvarez.

 

Some discussion on this here. Begins at the 7:50 mark.

 

So Strom may have already beat COVID? That would be good news as he and Dusty are the two prominent "high-risk" figures on the team.

 

Spoiler

As baseball continues to explore a variety of ways to conduct the 2020 season, league officials are not ready to commit to one idea before the timeline of the nation’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic becomes clearer.

Since a brief, initial conversation on April 6, officials from MLB and the players’ union have yet to resume talks about a plan to start the season in Arizona with players under quarantine and games taking place in empty parks, sources said.

The pause in the discussions should not be confused with a lack of activity. Both sides are speaking to medical experts, and MLB continues to investigate the Arizona plan, sources said.

“Different plans require different levels of restriction for players, different economics associated with it, different start dates,” one league official said, explaining why conversations with the union were on hold.

At one point last week, MLB signaled to the union it was preparing to move quickly. But a planned call between the league and the union produced only a basic message: The coronavirus had made the future too uncertain to advance the discussions. The two sides expect to remain in contact this week, though MLB has yet to bring a specific proposal to its owners.

The Arizona plan is drawing support from some federal officials, and might be the only way for baseball to return in 2020. The logistics would be complicated: Players would be tested for the coronavirus regularly and exist in a sealed environment of hotels and ballparks in the Phoenix area. But over time, the quarantine might be relaxed as the nation gradually re-opens, allowing the plan to evolve.

As league officials study all options, they say that staying nimble would enable them to pivot if state governments and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) begin to lift restrictions on social gatherings, potentially creating a different road map for playing in 2020. The CDC has recommended against assemblages of 50 or more through May 10, and every state with a major-league team currently is operating with a stay-at-home order for its residents.

The possibility of fans attending major-league games might be remote until a vaccine for the coronavirus becomes available, a development that is not expected anytime soon. But even a gradual easing of restrictions might make it easier for baseball to adopt a plan less stringent than the Arizona quarantine, which could require players to separate from their families for an extended period.

For example, some in the game speculate that if government officials deemed the virus under control in certain cities with domed or retractable-roof parks, the sport might be positioned to resume in certain regional hubs. Six teams could be assigned to five areas – say, Phoenix, Miami and Tampa Bay, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston – then spend two to three weeks playing each other in round-robin style before relocating to another facility.

Such a scenario is perhaps overly optimistic: The format, requiring less travel than a normal season but more than the Arizona plan, might be more realistic as a second phase of the season. The advantage of opening in Phoenix is that all 30 teams would be at a central location, enabling baseball to limit travel to bus rides and reduce the scope of workers in lodging, food preparation, transportation, security and television production, all of whom would need to be kept safe.

The Arizona plan, though, is fraught with obstacles.

Temperatures in Phoenix in the summer months routinely soar over 100 degrees, making for less-than-ideal playing conditions. The city’s location potentially would reduce the size of night-time television audiences. The potential inclusion of families in the sealed environment – an idea many players advocate – would dramatically increase the number of people quarantined and tested.

To implement the plan, baseball would need to reserve entire hotels, arrange for food service and ensure extensive testing for everyone under quarantine, all in advance. Such a commitment might turn out to be premature if a better alternative became available in 45 to 60 days. But the Arizona plan could morph into that better alternative as well.

Some of the 15 clubs that train in Florida, meanwhile, would prefer the league to explore playing in both that state and Arizona, sources said. Baseball is considering the two-state concept, but the training camps in Florida are more spread out than the complexes in Arizona, and some are in relatively remote locations, creating other challenges.

Television – which will be the sole outlet for fans to see games if they are prohibited from entering parks – is another issue the sport would need to address. If a quarantine was in effect, would broadcasts emanate from the usual on-site production trucks or off-site control rooms? Would the announcers be on location? Would robotic cameras replace individual operators? Whatever baseball decided, its local and national TV partners likely would need significant time to prepare.

Time, for now, is not the biggest roadblock. The players and owners have agreed to extend the regular season through October, if necessary. The postseason could be played at neutral sites in November. The problem is that the spread of the virus makes it impossible to predict what route might be the most logical for baseball in 30 days, 60, even 90.

“It’s just not at all clear at this point what’s going to be feasible and what’s not going to be feasible,” one league official said. “Right now, very little is feasible. We’re all sitting in our houses.”

 

Whats going on with other leagues around the world?

MLB is the least likely of all US leagues to have their **** together to pull something like this off first. I'd expect the NBA would be more likely to get back to playing... if its deemed feasible/safe at all.... first. Smaller rosters, less equipment/staff needed, shorter games, more arenas where they can play games, etc.

 

But why Grapefruit and Cactus? I'm sure the can do the whole bubble thing and still be able to just split up the divisions with how it's been (NL vs AL). Does it really matter if the Mets play in Arizona or the Mariners in Florida? It's neutral anyway.

 

Because teams have their own facilities at those places... that can accommodate living as well as training. Less issues with storing/processing/lugging equipment. Less issues with potential hotel workers needing to be quarantined with them. The players will already be in a position where they can't really be out in public doing their own thing... might as well get them as much of a "home" environment as possible.

In the end, these turned out to be way more hypothetical plans. There's still also the money issue that the union may not be all that willing to concede on (union wants full pro-rated salaries... owners want severely reduced salaries regardless).

 

Taiwan Baseball and Basketball started up in the last week or so. Most are playing in stadiums with no fans (well they have robots to look like fans and inputting noise) although one team in baseball is allowing 150 fans to each game

KBO (Korea) has preseason games scheduled to start on April 21st (6 Days) with a season start date in early May

Australian Football currently is planning to open back up training the second week of May with a return to play at the end of the month

The NBA certainly would be the easiest to start back up here for a couple of reasons. Obviously smaller rosters is the biggest. They also would need a shorter time to ramp up workouts to get ready to play than MLB, cause I would imagine there are quite a few pitchers who have continued to throw on a pretty strict routine but there are probably many who would be close to starting spring like throwing all over. Even with largely expanded rosters I couldn't see MLB starting real games without at least 3 weeks of spring like training/games/intersquads

I know it won't likely happen, but the idea for the NBA of a march madness like tournament would be awesome. Every game is an elimination game, that's what makes march madness so great

For MLB, I will still be very surprised if we do not have games by July in some format