There have been talks of the MLB playing out their season in Arizona and Florida due to COVID-19
With the coronavirus pandemic still keeping virtually all of America quarantined, baseball fans across the country are wondering if, and when, the MLB season will start. Those fans are more optimistic now than ever, as the league office is reportedly considering two plans that could bring back America’s pastime by May.
The first plan, originally reported on April 6, would send all 30 MLB teams to Arizona. Players, coaches and essential team staff members would be sequestered in local hotels. Games would take place in front of empty crowds at the state’s 10 Spring Training facilities, as well as at Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Several other ballparks in the area could also be considered.
MLB’s second proposed plan that we know of is similar but would split the 30 teams between Arizona and Florida. Think of it as Spring Training all over again, with Cactus League teams setting up shop in Arizona and Grapefruit League teams in Florida. It would be the first time since 1901 that MLB operated outside of its traditional National League-American League format.
However, both plans are far from perfect, and MLB doesn’t seem committed to anything just yet. Players, fans and the media have been quick to voice their concerns.
“I just don’t see that happening,” said Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, speaking of the Arizona plan. “I’m not going to be away from my family and not see them for four and a half months.”
Angels superstar Mike Trout expressed similar concerns, noting that his wife is pregnant with their first child and will likely go into labor during the season.
Unfortunately, the lack of family time is just one of many potential problems. According to U.S. Climate Data, the average July high in Phoenix is 106 degrees. While the average July high in Miami is only 91 degrees, this climate is swelteringly humid. All three MLB teams in Arizona and Florida have covered stadiums for a reason.
The Arizona plan also comes with the risk of not having enough fields. If there are only 11 MLB-quality stadiums in the state and all are used once per day, eight teams would be left off the schedule every day. That probably means playing more frequent doubleheaders than players are accustomed to, especially at air-conditioned Chase Field.
The Arizona-Florida plan has an even bigger problem. Bringing the Spring Training format to the regular season means entirely new divisions, and new divisions mean catastrophic imbalance across the league. The two teams that met in the World Series last year — the Washington Nationals and the Houston Astros — would wind up in the same Grapefruit League division.
Beyond the divisions, the sport itself might not look the same if baseball does return this year. Robotic umpires could allow human umpires to keep their distance from players behind home plate. Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner proposed the idea of turning extra innings into a home run derby to keep games short and entertaining. These proposals seem far-fetched for a game that is notoriously traditionalist.
Public health questions also loom over the plans. What if a player got the coronavirus during the season? Wouldn’t it spread to the entire league overnight? Would sending upwards of 1,500 players, coaches and staff to Arizona and/or Florida put those state(s) further at risk?
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and noted Nationals fan, spoke with Snapchat’s Peter Hambyon on the prospect of sports returning soon.
“There’s a way of doing that,” Fauci said. “Nobody comes to the stadium. Put [the players] in big hotels, wherever you want to play, keep them very well surveilled. … Have them tested every single week and make sure they don’t wind up infecting each other or their family and just let them play the season out.”
Fauci’s words have sparked a sense of optimism that baseball could be back soon, and rightfully so. Once medical officials are sure that frequent testing of players won’t hinder local healthcare systems from providing tests to people in need, MLB’s plans seem more feasible.
Of the two plans that we know of, the Arizona plan seems to be more realistic. Sequestering players in one place would simplify the surveillance process, and Arizona’s Spring Training facilities are conveniently clustered in the Phoenix area while Florida’s would require more than three hours of travel regularly.
Ultimately, no one knows if baseball will return in 2020. But what we do know is this: If baseball does come back, it would have a platform it hasn’t had since 9/11, offering much-needed hope to a country that has lost more than 20,000 citizens to an unprecedented pandemic in under two months.