By Jordan Long
Major League Baseball could be back as soon as July 4th. Owners have approved a proposal for the season to start. They will now send the proposal to the Major League Baseball Players Association for them to approve, but they are expected to negotiate to possibly bring back baseball.
MLB has not started their season due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. They played spring training baseball in Arizona and Florida until it was shut down on March 12th. Now MLB would like to ramp up the year. The suggestion by the MLB includes an 80 game season, universal designated hitter, home stadiums in places that have state government consent, 14 team playoffs, and teams would play teams in the same geographical area such as the National League West playing American League West teams. There wouldn’t be any fans in attendance, at least at the start.
There are a few problems with the plan. First, the universal designated hitter. In the National League pitchers hit. Some like to have a chance to drive in runs with a base hit or a home run such as Jon Lester, Madison Bumgarner, and Antonio Senzatela. The same geographical area seems like a great idea but the tricky part is there is still travel. Most baseball teams are still hundreds of miles away from each other such as the Colorado Rockies and the Seattle Mariners. Plus, there may be some home ballparks they can’t play in. If that is the case, MLB is prepared to move them to a city where they can play.
This idea for baseball to be back could be great because it starts to give some sense of normalcy in North America and a chance to watch live baseball here. The difficulty is what happens if a player contracts COVID? The year might have to shut down. Who knows how long it would be until the season resumes. Baseball should take a long hard look, but right now it doesn’t seem like the time for the game to be back. It is still too dangerous and chaotic.
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