Teams like the Yankees will be unable to hold workouts under Florida's new ordersGETTY IMAGES
A stay-at-home order from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis yesterday only adds "another twist to when baseball will be able to reassemble for an abbreviated spring training," according to Kristie Ackert of the N.Y. DAILY NEWS. MLB had officially pushed back the start of the regular season for at least eight weeks on March 16, but sources have "hinted that they hoped to have games back up and running by June 1." However, until these "Safer at Home" orders are lifted, teams based in South Florida "would not be able to hold workouts with more than 10 players or restart spring training without an exemption." With N.Y. becoming the "biggest hotspot for the disease in the country and other cities projected to go through similar outbreaks in the near future, there had been suggestions that the regular season could be started at spring training sites." But Florida is "dealing with its own attempts at containing the virus and may not be in a position to host teams anytime soon." The orders in Florida say that residents could "only leave for essential work or to pick up food and medication." So far, MLB season preparations has "not been added to the list of essential jobs in Florida" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 3/31). In N.Y., Dan Martin writes it is "clear" MLB "won't be returning anytime soon." At this point, anything before a mid-June start date "seems highly unlikely" (N.Y. POST, 3/31).
GROWING CONFIDENCE: ESPN's Jeff Passan said there is "confidence" around MLB that there is "going to be baseball this year, and there is hope inside the sport that baseball is going to be the first sport back." MLB is "all systems go-ahead right now" in an effort to try and "get back on the field in May." Indians P Trevor Bauer wants to put a VR camera "inside of the dugout so anyone with a VR headset or a cellphone can practically sit in the dugout," and it is "things like that that ... are going to engage people and bring them back to baseball” (“SportsCenter,” ESPN, 3/30).
JUST STARTING THE PROCESS: In DC, Adam Zielonka notes Nationals President of Baseball Operations & GM Mike Rizzo "wouldn't weigh in on the current proposals floating about, which include playing into the winter at warm-weather or domed neutral sites and finishing the World Series around Christmas." Rizzo: "We're gonna need to get creative. But beyond that, we're just speculating on all these things and I don't think it's the right thing to do for us as individual teams. These are industry-wide concepts" (WASHINGTON TIMES, 3/31).
