World Series on Christmas? With MLB’s COVID-19 delay, that is agent Scott Boras’ plan
Reggie Jackson was Mr. October. Derek Jeter was Mr. November.
Could we get a Mr. December this year?
If super agent Scott Boras has his way, that seems likely. With the Major League Baseball season on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Boras shared a plan with the Los Angeles Times that would allow for a full 162-game schedule and the entire playoff structure.
It could culminate with a World Series game being played on Christmas Day. Yep, you’d mix “Ho Ho Ho” with “Play Ball.”
“We have it all mapped out,” Boras told the Times. “It’s workable. We’ve done climate studies, and in Southern California, the average temperature in December is 67 degrees, which is better than late March and early April in most cities. We have 11 stadiums we could play postseason games in. I’m gonna get my neutral-site World Series after all.”
As Boras noted, this would require all playoff games take place in stadiums that likely wouldn’t be home to either postseason team.
There are eight domed stadiums (Toronto, Milwaukee, Miami, Houston, Seattle, Phoenix, St. Petersburg, Florida and Arlington, Texas) and three in Southern California (Los Angeles, San Diego and Anaheim).
Boras’ plan would include a 162-game schedule beginning June 1. He believes a 144-game schedule would work if the coronavirus stoppage pushed opening day back to July 1.
“All the players I’m talking to want to play all the games, and we can map this out,” Boras told the Times. “We’re just trying to let (MLB) know we have the ability to do it, that there’s a logical way to do it. You have the facilities. You have the sites to do it. The difference is how the playoffs are run and where they’re played.
Forbes has called Boras the “United States’ most powerful agent and is revered as one of the world’s top negotiators,” and it’s possible he’s trying to get leverage for his clients.
Major League Baseball and the players union have yet to reach agreement on service time in the event of a shortened season.
This is from the New York Post: “The union’s recent proposal was that even if no games were played in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, players would receive full service time for the 2020 season as long as they had reached certain service time criteria in 2019 — the initial plan was at least 60 days of service. MLB countered that a full service year (normally 172 days) would be credited for 130 games or more and that after that players would receive credit for actual days played.”
One possible stumbling block is the weather during the regular season. Boras’ plan would call for a number of doubleheaders to get all 162 games played and for the regular season to end in November.
In 2018, Kansas City was hit with 5.8 inches of snow in November, and there are many other baseball cities to the north. The average low temperature for November in Kansas City is 34 degrees. Fans at Kauffman Stadium may trade their beers for coffee.
You can read more of Boras’ proposal here.
