Reese Kaplan -- How Long Will MLB Postpone the 2020 Season?

At great personal restraint I am not seeking to make a political statement beyond the observation that the United States was a bit laissez faire when it came to its response to the coronavirus-19 which has plagued various parts of Asia, Europe and now apparently Australia, too.  Changes have been made as of the 11^th of March which some will say were necessary, others will say overdue and still others will say not nearly enough.  That is NOT the point of this discourse. 

Right now everyone is aware that not one, but two Utah Jazz players have now tested positive for the virus along with actors Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson.  In the case of the NBA, they were faced with having to quarantine the Jazz players from contact with other teams and then faced the prospect of testing the other teams that have come in contact with the Jazz over the past few weeks.  Consequently they took the dramatic but pragmatic approach to suspending the NBA season until the disease is managed properly and defeated.  While no one liked the prospect of missing out on the fights for the basketball post-season, most agreed it was the smart thing to do.

That brings us, of course, to the question of how Rob Manfred and others are going to face the same questions facing Major League baseball.  Already whole states like Washington and whole cities like San Francisco have enacted bans on crowds of over 250 people.  With most baseball stadiums handily accommodating crowds of 40,000 or more that would seem to be a problem. 

Yesterday the Spring Training operations were shut down in Arizona and Florida.  The start of the season was postponed for an optimistic two weeks.  

One approach bandied about is moving home openers in the legislated locations to non­-legislated locations so that the season could begin on time and finish on time with a full schedule.  There’s some merit to that approach, of course.  Baseball may be a sport for entertainment, but it is also a business that generates a lot of money which would not happen if they simply did not play the games.

Others are advocating that the Major Leagues simply shut down their prospective late March and early April openings until more is known about the best way to combat the disease and prevent further spread of the infection.  While that approach would certainly annoy many fans and disgruntle team owners, there is merit to the old cliché about an ounce of prevention.

A third approach discussed is to have the games proceed as scheduled but ban fans from attending in person.  That method would preserve the integrity of the game and its schedule but would not contribute to the gate revenues from ticket sales (not to mention all of the peripheral dollars lost on parking fees, refreshments and souvenir purchases).  Furthermore, it would seem somewhat bizarre bordering on fictitious to play professional sports while simultaneously banning spectators. 

No one has gone as far as to suggest screening tests be made available at stadium entrances to check for the presence of the virus in anyone planning to attend.  After all, there’s a cost associated with medical tests that no one wants to address.  More importantly, the first positive test would cause widespread panic among the potential attendees. 

It’s a situation that the country is not prepared to answer without full government, business and citizen cooperation.  We were indeed a bit late in getting started, but now we must face the difficult decisions regarding the best approaches to take.  

Being based in a minor league franchise city, the issue is not quite as dramatic for me as it is for the 30 locations where Opening Day is scheduled to commence in the next few weeks.  Maybe because I’m a relatively safe distance away it is a bit easier for me to opt on the side of caution and lean towards one of the prevention solutions such as a temporary shutdown, location changes or playing without fans.  It doesn’t seem to be worth the risk of fatal infection transmission for which there is not yet a known cure simply to preserve the history of the game.