Some Sources Skeptical Of Newfound Plans To Start MLB Season

Playing games at Spring Training sites in Arizona and Florida is one potential option to begin the MLB seasonGETTY IMAGES

The various contingency plans to begin the '20 MLB season during the coronavirus pandemic are "shortsighted at best," according to sources cited by Christian Red of NBCNEWS.com. Two recent reports detailed "possible plans for how baseball could resume play and salvage the season." A USA Today report from Friday stated that teams would return to their "spring training homes in Florida and Arizona" and play games there. Part of that plan would see the AL and NL "scrapped in favor of a total realignment of divisions." That follows reports from last week that would see "all 30 MLB teams playing games in Arizona" at both Spring Training sites and Chase Field. Players, coaches and essential team personnel "would live in relative isolation." Both plans call for games to be "played in front of empty" ballparks. MLB and the MLBPA have "discussed different scenarios to start the season." However, a source said that the Florida/Arizona plan was "only broached briefly." Another source said the Arizona-only plan was "totally inaccurate" (NBCNEWS.com, 4/11).

TWO-STATE SCENARIO: USA TODAY's Bob Nightengale reported the Florida/Arizona plan would see games played only in those two states "in an effort to reduce travel and minimize risks." Divisions for the '20 season "would be realigned based on the geography" of teams' Spring Training homes. The plan would let teams "return to the comforts of their spring training sites for three weeks of training, which would also include exhibition games, before opening the regular season." It also would allow teams to "establish home bases with facilities they are familiar with." Meanwhile, it "could be a huge boon for the TV rights holders." Florida games could start at 11:00am ET and "still have games in prime-time for East Coast teams and their fans" (USA TODAY, 4/10).

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APPEARS PROMISING: On Long Island, David Lennon noted the two-state plan "appears to have promise on paper." It removes "some of the problems inherent with sending everyone to Phoenix." However, trying to incorporate Florida into the plan "rather than having all 30 teams in a tight Phoenix perimeter could expand the risk." Meanwhile, one source "cautioned that it remains difficult to move forward without a better read on the coronavirus outbreak and what the situation might look like a month from now" (NEWSDAY, 4/11). In Boston, Alex Speier noted teams would have access to "familiar, robust training facilities," though it would generate "even more logistical hurdles" than the Arizona-only plan. In Arizona, all teams would be "based within a one-hour drive of each other." However, the "multi-hour distance between some spring training camps in Florida ... would make it difficult for teams to conduct series without staying in a road hotel" (BOSTON GLOBE, 4/11).

WEATHERING THE CRISIS: In Boston, Peter Abraham noted the Florida/Arizona idea "seems at least a little more realistic" than the Arizona-only plan, as the former would include expanded rosters, which would allow teams to "get through playing in hot weather" (BOSTON GLOBE, 4/12). Alex Rodriguez said the weather would serve as the "one caution" he had about playing so many games in Arizona. He said, "If you're going to do it, you have to think about starting at nine in the morning or 9:00pm, because it's a lot to ask players, coaches and umpires to be out there in the middle of the day in July and August when it is 115 (degrees). Now you open up another can of worms and other health risks." Rodriguez also said while conducting testing for MLB players is "important," he does not think it is a "good look that baseball players get tested while the rest of America suffers with a lot of uncertainty" (“MSNBC Live,” 4/11). 

BOOM OR BUST: ESPN's Jeff Passan said when it is "all said and done, it seems like it’s going to be Arizona or bust for Major League Baseball.” The hope is that this "starts off as a biosphere and eventually we get to a point in this country … that they can move beyond this biosphere and go back to their cities.” The idea is that this "would be a two- or maybe three-month thing as opposed to a four- or five- or six-month thing” (“Get Up,” ESPN, 4/13). ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian said of the plan to play in Arizona, “I can’t see this happening, this is a bad idea. This is one of many bad ideas" ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 4/10).

STILL TOO MANY FLAWS? In Chicago, Paul Sullivan writes even if either of these "long-shot plans is approved, it couldn't replace the communal experience of sitting in the stands watching a game with your family or friends or even by yourself" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 4/13). In S.F., Bruce Jenkins wrote the Florida/Arizona plan "looks like all those other plans revealed of late: shot full of holes" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 4/11). In Philadelphia, Scott Lauber wrote the Florida/Arizona plan is "yet another, only slightly less insane-sounding idea." Lauber: "But April isn't even half over. More ideas are surely coming." There "isn't anything wrong with that, of course," as it is "incumbent upon MLB and the Players' Association to spitball ideas." But they also are "weeks and maybe months from knowing when it might be safe for the sport to reconvene" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 4/11).