How Real is a May Start to 2020 MLB Season Arizona Only With No Fans? League Issues Statement
Major League Baseball sources dropped a bombshell late Monday night. The league is reportedly considering a May start to the 2020 season following postponement due to the coronavirus pandemic. And it appears many of the key players are on board, including the Player's Union.
Putting all 30 teams in the Phoenix area and playing in empty ballparks was among the ideas discussed Monday by Major League Baseball and the players’ association. Half the MLB teams hold spring training in Arizona, a warm weather state that has not been impacted as severely by the pandemic compared to other regions of the US, at least not yet.
“It allows for immediacy of a schedule, where you might be able to begin it and televise it, provide Major League Baseball to America,” said Scott Boras, baseball’s most prominent agent. “I think players are willing to do what’s necessary because I think they understand the importance of baseball for their own livelihoods and for the interest of our country and providing a necessary product that gives all the people that are isolated enjoyment."
“It gives them a sense of a return to some normalcy,” Boras added. "You talk to a psychologist about it and they say it’s it’s really good for a culture to have to have sport and to have a focus like that, where for a few hours a day they can take their minds off the difficult reality of the virus.”
So what are they saying across the Net?
The league did issue a statement Tuesday morning in response to the overnight news:
Most important would be a significant increase in available coronavirus tests with a quick turnaround time, which sources familiar with the plan believe will happen by early May and allow MLB's testing not to diminish access for the general public. https://t.co/02leeDo2YC
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 7, 2020
- Don Shapiro, Gambling911.com
