MLB says it has no firm plan to start season next month in Arizona, despite report
The Major League Baseball season is on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the league and its players are focused on returning to the field.
According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the league and the players’ union are strongly considering a plan to start the season as early as next month with games in Arizona.
That story said the 30 teams would play in stadiums without fans in the Phoenix area.
“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,” ESPN wrote. “Federal officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as the National Institutes 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.”
Among the ideas being considered with that plan is an electronic strike zone to call balls and strikes because umpires couldn’t be near the catcher/batter, players sitting in the stands instead of the dugout and seven-inning doubleheaders.
As that story has circulated, Major League Baseball said Tuesday it currently has “no detailed plans” on a return to play amid the spread of the coronavirus.
“MLB has been actively considering numerous contingency plans that would allow play to commence once the public health situation has improved to the point that it is safe to do so,” Major League Baseball said in a statement. “While we have discussed the idea of staging games at one location as one potential option, we have not settled on that option or developed a detailed plan. While we continue to interact regularly with governmental and public health officials, we have not sought or received approval of any plan from federal, state and local officials, or the Players Association.
“The health and safety of our employees, players, fans and the public at large are paramount, and we are not ready at this time to endorse any particular format for staging games in light of the rapidly changing public health situation caused by the coronavirus.”
Starting the season in Arizona would include a number of challenges as writers around the league have shared on Twitter.
Major League Baseball was already planning to start the season with expanded rosters (29 instead of the usual 26). But would that be enough, The Star’s Lynn Worthy asked.
Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe also brought up the roster issue, plus others involved in the game:
J.J. Cooper, the executive editor of Baseball America, randomly looked at box scores from last summer’s Arizona League games. One was 112 degrees at first pitch. At night.
ESPN’s Buster Olney asked what if individual players don’t want to take the field during a pandemic:
This story was originally published April 7, 2020 at 10:13 AM.
