I’m sure you’ve all heard by now that Governor Andrew Cuomo
has given permission for the New York sports franchises to open up their
playing facilities for preparation and games.
The news is somewhat incomplete since the baseball stadiums seat about
50,000 people and we’re still operating under a social isolation rubric for the
duration of the pandemic. The Yankees
have announced they intend to use their Florida spring training facility. The Mets haven’t said anything yet, but will
have to eat the cost of flights somewhere, something unappealing to the
cash-strapped owners. The dates in mind are approximately a June 10th start date for the second spring training and then about July 1st for the actual opening day. Voting must take place this week for the owners and players to agree. It needs to happen very quickly to meet these dates.
While part of me is very grateful to hear whispers of a
baseball season beginning, another part of me is concerned that they haven’t
quite figured out what to do with respect to the fans who might otherwise turn
in a ticket to gain admission to the stadium.
There are some who advocate using fan-free stadiums in the interest of
minimizing the spread of infection since no clear prevention or cure has yet
been developed. Others are saying to
include admissions with social distancing being practiced to allow people who
are willing to risk infection to come see live baseball once again. Others advocate using mannequins (or as South
Korea did, dressed-up inflatable sex dolls adoring protective face masks).
Right now you would think that the players are in need of
some formal training time to get back to the rigors of daily workouts, teammate
interactions and resuming what used to be their normal way of life. Surely the extra time off has been beneficial
to those folks healing from injuries, but the majority of players are healthy
and in need of brushing up on the routine exercises and plays to make them
ready to compete.
Various options have been discussed as to how the teams will
operate. Some include larger playing
squads of up to 30 people. Some insist
on using a universal DH in the National League as well as the long-standing
tradition in the American League. It’s entirely
possible that there will be multiple short stints by starting pitchers which
will, in turn, open up a myriad of relief pitching possibilities. Right now we’re not aware of the wear and
tear on a position like catcher when there have been no games since early
February.
For a great many fringe players this reopening of major
league baseball opens up playing time that otherwise might not have
existed. For example, the Mets signed
veteran first baseman Matt Adams who would have a devil of a time cracking the
roster with Pete Alonso, Dom Smith and others capable of playing there, but if
expansion from 25 to 26 to 30 man rosters takes place the likelihood is that
MLB teams will feel much greater comfort bringing along someone with a track
record like Adams has had. Another similar
example would be infielder Eduardo Nunez who, if nothing else, could prove to
be a valuable set of legs used for pinch running.
Regardless of who makes up the Opening Day roster, the fact
remains baseball is on its way back.
That shred of normalcy means an awful lot to a great many people. Play ball!
3 comments:
Just 73 deaths in all of New York State on Monday. This thing is dropping a lot faster than I expected. No excuse for them not to play a half season.
Work it out - fans will hate them if this continues to recede and they cannot work out a deal.
Hope they are able to come back Reese. Sure would be a lot more fun talking about the Mets 26th, 30th, or 50th man than the latest COVID news.
Sadly, I have to say that I have lost my mojo this year for Major League baseball.
I still look forward to the draft and writing about my thoughts on that, but I could care if baseball plays in 2020.
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