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

The professional baseball league in Taiwan, the CPBL, is starting their season next week. Originally they had planned to start the season with no fans but now they are planning on letting 150 fans in per game and all 150 each game must be season ticket holders. They will be checking people's temperature at the gate and all fans must wear masks. There will be no food and drink vendors at the games.

I wonder when fans are first allowed into mlb games again if there will be any type of restrictions like this.

 

The plan, sources said, would dictate that all 30 teams play games at stadiums with no fans in the greater Phoenix area, including the Arizona Diamondbacks' Chase Field, 10 spring training facilities and perhaps other nearby fields. Players, coaching staffs and other essential personnel would be sequestered at local hotels, where they would live in relative isolation and travel only to and from the stadium, sources said. Federal officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as the National Institute of Health have been supportive of a plan that would adhere to strict isolation, promote social distancing and allow MLB to become the first professional sport to return.

The May return date depends on a number of concerns being allayed, and some officials believe a June opening day could be more realistic, sources said. Most important would be a significant increase in available coronavirus tests with a quick turnaround time, which sources familiar with the plan believe will happen by early May and allow MLB's testing not to diminish access for the general public.

While health officials see MLB players as low-risk candidates for COVID-19-related issues because of their age and health, putting protocols in place to ensure the health and safety of older managers, coaches, umpires and other personnel would be paramount to the plan working, sources said.

The logistics to pull off such a plan would be enormous and cumbersome on the league side and require the buy-in of players, who sources expect to be skeptical of separating from their families for an indefinite amount of time -- perhaps as long as 4½ months, if the inability to stem the coronavirus outbreak keeps teams from playing in their home stadiums in 2020.

Still, there is hope among leadership on both sides that the combination of receiving paychecks for playing and baseball's return offering a respite to a nation beset by the devastation of COVID-19 would convince players to agree to the plan, sources said.

The hurdles go far beyond testing and players' fears of separating from their families. MLB and the MLBPA, sources said, expect to discuss this week the economics of the plan, in which the league would forgo the gate receipts that account for the largest proportion of its annual revenues that exceed $10 billion. The league could reap additional money by adding games to its national television portfolio, with networks likely to leap at live programming as other sports remain shuttered due to the coronavirus, sources said.

Should the league and union agree to a deal, sources said, it would strongly increase the possibility that teams descend on the Phoenix area in May, provided the logistical issues -- securing robust coronavirus testing, lodging, security, transportation and myriad other matters -- can be solved. After a two- to three-week training camp, during which the protocols would be tested and iterated, MLB could consider beginning its regular season, sources said.

While the possibility of a player or staff member testing positive for coronavirus exists, even in a secured setting, officials do not believe that a positive test alone would necessarily be cause to quarantine an entire team or shut down the season, sources said. The plan could include teams carrying significantly expanded rosters to account for the possibility of players testing positive despite the isolation, as well as to counteract the heat in Phoenix, which could grow problematic during the summer, sources said. The allure of more players potentially receiving major league salaries and service time would appeal strongly to the union, according to sources.

Both sides acknowledge the uniqueness of the season would not be limited to stadium location or roster size. Among the possibilities that have been discussed among people from both sides, though not in the talks on Monday, according to sources:

• Implementing an electronic strike zone to allow the plate umpire to maintain sufficient distance from the catcher and batter

• No mound visits from the catcher or pitching coach

• Seven-inning doubleheaders, which with an earlier-than-expected start date could allow baseball to come closer to a full 162-game season

• Regular use of on-field microphones by players, as an added bonus for TV viewers

• Sitting in the empty stands 6 feet apart -- the recommended social-distancing space -- instead of in a dugout

Each option, though far from certain, is likely to be bandied about in the coming days as the viability of the plan for everyone involved takes shape.

The money discussion would not just be between the league and players but among the teams too. Because local television contracts vary significantly by market -- well over $100 million a year separates the top and bottom local TV deals -- those reliant on gate revenues could seek a one-year change to the revenue-sharing plan among the 30 teams.

The sides also would need to determine how many people would live inside the sport's so-called bubble alongside on-field and medical personnel, as well as whether it would include front-office officials, scouts, video personnel and media, among others, sources said.

As consequential and potentially tricky as some of the challenges might be, sources said the league and union are motivated to make the plan work because they realize the alternative might be worse for both sides: no baseball at all in 2020.

 

Drive-in baseball. I solved it.

 

Would the broadcasters themselves even have to be in the stadium, do we have the technology for them to broadcast the game from home watching on their TV, or are there time delay issues that could prevent that?

In any case I hope this is worked out, would be great for our nation

 

The biggest sticking point is will the players/coaches agree to basically be in a form of “prison” for all these months. No physical contact with family/significant others. No leaving the bubble.

For a few games, sure... for an entire seasons’ worth? Or if the nation does get to the point of being able to break the bubble... why not just wait till then?

But if it gets the electronic strike zone in place... because why risk extra exposure to old umpires... go for it!

 

Lololololol, Prison huh? lololol

I'm thinking the conditions in the hotels they will be put up in won't exactly resemble prisons

Getting the players to agree to this will likely be #2 on the list of what is the toughest hurdle to cross to make this happen

#1 will be the availability of testing. For this to work they will have to have thousands of tests and the kind that bring back quick results. They will have to have this to make it work and right now it isn't available...but, my 53+ years on this earth has showed me that where there is money there is usually a way

Getting the players to agree to it won't likely be too difficult. For one thing there is already an agreement in place between mlb and the mlbpa over "pay" and basically if there are no games this year players aren't getting those huge salaries. If you think that doesn't matter to a large majority of them you would be wrong. This would also be done with largely expanded rosters, meaning a LOT more players gaining service time, that's a huge issue with the players union.

As for "why not just wait till then?", all people are not the same. Maybe to you having a normal income coming in isn't a big deal, but to many people it is. Maybe to you having something other than "stay at home" isn't important to your mental health, but to millions it is. Maybe you still have your job and go to work and back home everyday, in what is at least a somewhat normal life? Maybe you are working from home and you are an introvert who is more than happy to sit in your house all day and night and you are fine? Maybe you have lost your job and your mental health isn't holding up well at all. People all have different issues, and for millions of people something like that could make a difference. So if you hate the idea so much, and they do make it happen, hopefully you can struggle through it

I still wonder if they would have to have the broadcasting crews there or not. I would think that could be done from their homes like many news stations and so forth are doing, just don't know about time delays and so forth. Would think technology is there in 2020 but who knows. I do know the fewer people they have to involve the more likely it is to happen

 

Why do you hate that guy so much?

But aside from that which is none of my business, I can tell you from experience--being away from your wife and kids for more than two weeks feels like some kind of prison, no matter how nice the digs are. Separation from family sucks. Hard.

 

1100 players/teams coaches being confined to one city... without much contingency in place should one of them test positive (other than “lets have extra players!”) is not the sort of public health solution that makes a lot of sense on paper at this point. Even with extra testing... that only covers players after the incubation phase. Every other sector that has implemented more increased testing (mostly in healthcare settings) has ended up quarantining those people that tested positive, along with those who they interacted with in the days prior... those numbers are exponential in convention/team settings. Lastly, will they have their own dedicated medical staff (that is already stretched thin) quarantined with them to take care of potential people who actually feel symptoms?

Yes, I know there’s a lot of financial risk at stake for these teams... but they will survive if there are no games. The players, with less salary, will survive as well... moreso than a lot of other sectors of the country. The nation will survive with a year off from pro sports as well.

As far as players agreeing to be quarantined without family for 5 months, its not as slam dunk as you suggest. Same go for the coaches/training staff that would have to adhere to the same guidelines.

And in the end, The league is going to push for this solely for recouping tv money... which is not going to sit well in the eyes of the public fighting for their lives with limited hospital resources in major cities. At some point, there will be valid debates/questions whether or not their financial burden is worth the extra risk.

 

LOL... he does tend to run a little hot once he digs in.

At least its better than his cangejero break downs... I think he had to take a LOA from the site after dealing with him...

 

Off topic...

 

I think people going stir crazy is gonna be a much bigger issue than people are acknowledging

The more obvious issues that the shutdown is gonna have have been stated, but entertainment isn't a luxury, it's a need. I'm as introverted as they come, and even I'm already getting tired of nothing happening.

I don't, and never have thought that what we are doing is sustainable financially or psychologically for very long. No sports of any kind, no movies, no parties, no going out to eat. We are doing what we absolutely have to right now to stop the tide, but it isn't going away until a vaccine is ready. Until that happens we're gonna have to transition into a life dealing with this for the next year or so. Restaurants with tables separated, theaters with seating broken up, live sports with no spectators.

Assuming we have in fact gotten this under control by then, this seems very reasonable to me. Society can't be on hold for a year, and social distancing will have a plateau effect at a certain point.

 

no doubt, and as I said everyone is different. In the end I bet they agree to it though for financial reasons

 

And I don’t hate Nick, he is just so dramatic and unwilling to have a conversation where he accepts others opinions as possibly correct lol

 

just because it hasn’t been reported doesn’t mean there aren’t contingency plans in place for a positive test

and as I said earlier, I’m sure you are right some won’t like it, but millions of others will. We are not all alike, and we will never see an issue that everyone agrees to

personally I hope they make this work and I’ve thought all along they would come up with a plan. Maybe they won’t and the season will be cancelled and I’ll be wrong, time will tell

 

Actually that couldn’t be further from the truth. Trying to read emotion and tone into written posts is difficult. I’m about as low key as you can find, it’s very rare that I get “hot” as you are saying. It’s actually the trait that has made me so successful at my job

 

People who have never lived with mental health issues themselves, or worked with people who struggle with them, will never understand

They just see it as people being “bored” and don’t understand why those people can’t just “chill”. It’s a true medical emergency in and of itself and affects many more people than most people realize

And I agree, what we are doing right now isn’t sustainable. I’m not saying I have the answer to all of this, but our society can’t survive this for as long as some would think

 

Dramatic?

And are we not having a conversation right now?

 

If the biggest issue society has with all of this is "boredom"... then the measures certainly worked and nobody is going to argue whether or not it was "worth it".

This is unprecedented for the world... not just the US. At the very least, we're living in a time where there are such things as streaming options... where movie studios are able to release directly to this platform. Still being able to see people over streaming facetime/screens. Being able to order food with a click of a button. Being able to order groceries for curbside pickup. Being able to have a doctors visit without leaving your house.

I know the audience here represents the extreme of dedicated sports fans... and a season without sports seems unfathomable... but big picture wise, I think society has never been better set up to handle this dilemma, and I'm grateful to be in a country/area that is able to offer an alternative quarantined lifestyle without feeling like its become a third world-desolate situation.

 

What I mean by dramatic is things like the other day when you said we might never see sports again

or calling staying in Arizona for games a prison

and Yes you have conversations but I don’t think I’ve ever seen you admit someone else could possibly be right lol. I have a career where you have to have strong opinions if you are going to be any good at all, and you regularly have to accept that someone else’s opinion is right, or even if you don’t think so you have to accept it and move on supporting it 100%. If not, you will not be successful. It’s probably that mindset that comes across here the wrong way to some

No hate towards you man, hell I don’t even know you. You are an Astros fan, we gonna have to stick together once fans are back in the stadiums lol

 

There is a HUGE difference between someone being bored and people struggling with mental health issues

I don’t think a large majority of society can truly understand that. We tend to look at the world through our own eyes and feel like everyone else can be the same as us, it’s simply not true

and for the record I don’t struggle with mental health issues and to me it is just boredom, so it’s not a big issue for me personally. I’ve dealt with a LOT of people with true mental health issues though and it is real