Just as Major League Baseball (MLB) was preparing for Opening Day, along came the coronavirus, preventing the league from even entering the batter’s box. That was almost two months ago, and there is still no clear picture about when, and if, the 2020 season will be allowed to resume. Ideas on resuming play, such as holding all games in Phoenix, Arizona, have been floated, but the odds of that happening are about as good as Hillary Clinton winning this year’s presidential election (since she’s not even a candidate, the result should be clear). Still, MLB was willing to recognize the efforts being made by its employees across the country to keep the league ready for action, and agreed to cover certain salaries for a while. However, all good things must come to an end, and MLB brass is giving teams permission to make cuts where necessary – players excluded.
About a week ago, MLB announced that it would pay its employees through the end of May and that the top league officials were going to reduce their pay by an average of 35%. It also said that players would be eligible to receive some type of compensation from a $170-million fund that was being created. As of today, though, teams could have the green light from MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred to temporarily lay off employees or reduce their salaries if they feel it’s necessary. The only exemption, as Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic points out, is that players cannot be touched.
Nothing would be better than to see all sports leagues back in action. Ideas of games in different sports beginning in May or June are still being discussed, but nothing definite has been, or will be, decided quickly. According to Stephanie Apstein of Sports Illustrated, “[According] to the experts—medical experts, not the money-making experts in league offices—we will not have sports any time soon.”
Still, others in the medical community believe that something could happen soon. Most notably, the top coronavirus fighter in the U.S., Dr. Anthony Fauci, said last week, “There’s a way [for players to play]. Put them in big hotels wherever you want to play. Keep them very well surveilled and name me a surveillance. But have them tested, like every week and make sure they don’t wind up infecting each other or their family. And just let them play the season out. People say, ‘Well, you can’t play without spectators. Well, I think you’d probably get enough buy-in from people who are dying to see a baseball game, particularly me. I’m living in Washington. We have the world champion Washington Nationals. I want to see them play again.”
MLB is currently involved in a massive, 10,000-person on COVID-19 testing. League players, managers and others related to the teams are helping researchers from Stanford University, the University of Southern California and the Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory (SMRTL) conduct trials on tests that could identify the coronavirus in minutes and, if successful, this would be a huge step forward to getting athletes back on the field.
