It’s the latest idea that has the sports world buzzing: per the Associated Press and ESPN, Major League Baseball and players are looking at a way to play a season that would start in May in Arizona.
That would entail all 30 teams playing at Chase Field — home of the Diamondbacks — spring training facilities and other locations. It would include a plan to keep everyone involved in “relative isolation,” as ESPN’s Jeff Passan wrote,” in their hotels.
And there are ideas about how to keep everyone practicing social distancing during games. Here’s the list from the comprehensive Passan article, which he notes are “far from certain” as this plan continues to be shaped:
- 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
We’ve been over this before. The whole “putting everyone involved in a bubble” is reckless, especially when you’ve got this fact:
Does MLB realize that the virus is also here, in Arizona, and that the surge of hospitalizations here is supposed to come in May
— Zach Buchanan (@ZHBuchanan) April 7, 2020
And sure, trying to keep players six feet apart in the stands and no mound visits and a relatively distant umpire equates to some form of social distancing. But then …
“Sitting in the empty stands 6 feet apart — the recommended social-distancing space — instead of in a dugout.”
But then don’t you have to tag someone out or hold them on base?
I love the hopefulness here but … feasibility is kind of an issue. (Good reporting by Jeff.) https://t.co/8FiojzZ35v
— Eric Adelson (@eric_adelson) April 7, 2020
Yes! What about tags and takeout slides that result in players piled on top of each other?
And there are are a lot of people reminding us that the weather in Arizona in the summer is … brutal. The thing that stood out from Passan’s piece was this sentence:
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.
This ASSUMES you’re putting players in harm’s way, either from the heat or, you know, from the deadly virus that’s continuing to spread:
be sure to read to the part where they have an army of minor leaguers ready to step in when the first wave goes down to COVID-19 pic.twitter.com/5maRA6MTed
— Matt Pearce 🦅 (@mattdpearce) April 7, 2020
Enough with the “sports in a bubble” or on a private island (seriously, Dana White?) ideas. There isn’t any foolproof way to guarantee the safety of anyone involved, and that should, of course, be the priority.
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