Spring is here and that should mean baseball is upon us. Thursday was supposed to be Opening Day for Major League Baseball, but the coronavirus interfered.
In terms of a more positive perspective, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred went on ESPN’s SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt Wednesday night and said that baseball will return eventually.
“The one thing I know for sure is baseball will be back,” Manfred said. “Whenever it’s safe to play, we’ll be back. Our fans will be back. Our players will be back. And we will be part of the recovery, the healing in this country, from this particular pandemic.
Manfred added, “Look, my optimistic outlook is that at some point in May, we’ll be gearing back up. We’ll have to make a determination, depending what the precise date is, as to how much of a preparation period we need, whether that preparation period is going to be done in the clubs’ home cities or back in Florida and Arizona. Again, I think the goal would be to get as many regular-season games as possible and think creatively about how we can accomplish that goal.”
MLB and its players’ union are close to reaching a deal on critical economic issues, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today.
As for scheduling logistics, superagent Scott Boras has an idea for the season. His plan calls for a full 162-game season to begin on June 1 or a 144-game season that starts July 1, depending on the timing. Under Boras’s plan, the playoffs would be played from December 3 to December 26. The World Series would occur at a neutral site.
Boras and MLB both want to play as many games as possible. However, Boras’s plans aren’t realistic. Teams would have to play at least a dozen doubleheaders to make it work. Additionally, baseball can’t be played in every city during the winter so while the World Series would be at a suitable neutral site, games in the Wild Card, Divisional, and League Championship series might not.
Having baseball beyond October means that MLB would also be competing with the NBA and NFL. MLB’s television ratings would surely take a hit if baseball was still going on after October. Attendance at games would also probably be down, which means less money for teams.
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