COVID-19 impact on MLB season

[Baldkin]

The virus is already on the wane in China where it was a lot worse. The cancelling now and barring flights from mainland Europe is to buy time and prevent a bigger spike in cases and protect the leagues from lawsuits. They're buying time because viruses do not spread easily in warm, humid weather. PGA Tour is going on as scheduled in Florida. Games played outdoors in warmer weather are not nearly the risk of games played indoors.

Worst I could see would be opening day being moved back by a couple weeks and season being condensed to 150 games. I'm guessing we'll see Brewers opening the roof at a much lower threshold, say 52 degrees rather than 62 once they start.

 

Other alternative is keeping the teams in Arizona and Florida and playing the first few weeks of the season in open air warm settings.

 

Stop. Just stop posting ridiculous mythical talking points. the above is 100% UNPROVEN in regards to COVID-19.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

You are correct that that is unproven and shouldn't be stated as fact, but they are definitely trying to buy time in the hopes that that helps. It has spread in places that don't really have seasonal weather though.

[Ennder]

They just shut down baseball. No specifics given on when they are targeting to to start up again.

[Ennder]

 

Stop. Just stop posting ridiculous mythical talking points. the above is 100% UNPROVEN in regards to COVID-19.

 

It isn't proven but it is more proven than suggesting it won't slow it down. It hasn't spread well at all in warmer climates yet. These types of viruses tend to not like the heat. I get why the people in charge don't want people to assume this, they have to be as cautious as they can and you don't want people assuming things will change with the weather. It is still way more likely that things will slow down come warm weather than not.

[liveforoctober]

Iran has the 3rd highest infection rate of this and it has the same relative temperature right now as Arizona. The warm/cold thing is a terrible generalization to make based on the actions of a completely different strain of virus. Please don't spread information like this without confirming accuracy first.

[KeithStone53151]

 

It's a really bad look now, how much media was complaining as few as 3-4 days ago about their access being limited. As if this whole coronavirus thing was actually all about them, and some grand plan to limit them from clubhouses.

[Oxy]

China had a grand total of 24 new cases yesterday. That's remarkable. They are probably much more on top of things than Iran or Italy, but it is evidence that the worst case scenarios CAN be avoided with relatively minimal impact--ASSUMING proper precautions are taken in the next few weeks. Those are still far better stats than seasonal flu or pneumonia statistics (again, assuming proper precautions are taken).

[OldSchoolSnapper]

UW-Whitewater shuttered. My work sent mass communication requiring everyone to have their VPN access verified. I suspect this will explode locally the next couple of days.

[djoctagone]

gotta cancel my wednesday flight to phoenix.

[Ennder]

Iran has the 3rd highest infection rate of this and it has the same relative temperature right now as Arizona. The warm/cold thing is a terrible generalization to make based on the actions of a completely different strain of virus. Please don't spread information like this without confirming accuracy first.

 

I'm not spreading anything, you are the one spreading something like it is a fact. We have absolutely no clue that temperature has nothing to do with it, none whatsoever. All I said is viruses similar to this tend to spread less in warm weather and less in humid areas (and iran being in the 60's is not warm weather). In areas like Bangkok where it is in the 80s it is barely spreading, that could be due to something completely different but it is a sign that it could have an effect. We won't know until the warmer weather reaches us for sure. There is nothing inaccurate in any of that.

Edited March 12, 2020 by Ennder

[patrickgpe]

The ACC has suspended all athletic activities. I would suspect the NCAA tournament will be cancelled by this evening.

[young guns]

I'm starting to get emails from places about their covid 19 response. Some places saying use our online tools others saying we keep things clean so you can still come in. It's like everyone decided a mass emailing at once.

[KeithStone53151]

UW-Whitewater shuttered. My work sent mass communication requiring everyone to have their VPN access verified. I suspect this will explode locally the next couple of days.

 

My workplace went through multiple contingency plans yesterday that involve a significant amount of work from home. The way things are looking, I'm expecting those plans to be put in motion pretty quickly as well.

[Oxy]

The ACC has suspended all athletic activities. I would suspect the NCAA tournament will be cancelled by this evening.

 

I hope that they announce a postponement/suspension, then proceed to continue with the selection and bracketing process. Keep postponing until more info is known. If they can somehow get it in before July I'd think they'd do it.

[AZBrewCrew]

My airline just announced furloughs are imminent.

 

 

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[mtrebs]

If there ends up being a MLB season, I hope the Brewers do their best to guarantee all the individuals that got Opening Day as part of their ticket package tickets for the “new” Opening Day.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

If there ends up being a MLB season, I hope the Brewers do their best to guarantee all the individuals that got Opening Day as part of their ticket package tickets for the “new” Opening Day.

 

I don't see why this wouldn't happen. Everyone that had a ticket will probably still have one and probably will be given a chance to swap it out for another or have it refunded.

[MrTPlush]

I know one team plans on refunds being given as a credit and you can use it to buy tickets to other 2020 games. Though that was somewhat surprising, think it was Seattle.

[mtrebs]

If there ends up being a MLB season, I hope the Brewers do their best to guarantee all the individuals that got Opening Day as part of their ticket package tickets for the “new” Opening Day.

 

I don't see why this wouldn't happen. Everyone that had a ticket will probably still have one and probably will be given a chance to swap it out for another or have it refunded.

 

Yes, but depending on what game is the “new” Opening Day, it could have had substantial ticket sales already. I think that most games probably don’t have a lot of sales though.

[3and2Fastball]

It’ll be interesting to see if they shorten the season if this goes on, as many health care experts have predicted, beyond the 2-4 weeks.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

At some point they'd have to scrap the season. If this is still roaring in June and you have to factor in a whole new ST it just becomes impossible logistically. It could just be a totally bizarre year.

[Warning Track Power]

Trying to stay on baseball topics (as BF.net is an outlet to this horrifically scary situation):

 

I wonder how this will ultimately impact baseball contracts if this season were to be canceled? Would all players still make their 2020 salary? Would FAs-to-be after 2020 like Ryan Braun still be FAs?

 

I assume the answer will be players will be paid and seasons will be accrued as if the season were played, but I gotta say that the players really make out in that scenario whereas the owners get the short end given the lack of revenue from gameday.

 

Will be interesting to see the outcome.

[brwrsfan]

I don't know about MLB, but for NBA contracts...they get paid by the game. No games = no money. It's hard to really say, nobody really knows how this will go, but we should have a better idea in a month. If it's not almost gone by May, the NBA is likely done for the year (Bucks luck) and as others have said, MLB would have to conceivably resume by June to have a spring training and half a season.

[rickh150]

It is even Possible that we do not see this Wisconsin team play again this season... how crazy quickly has the world changed in like 3 days.

 

Yeah, that was ultra quick. Not many times can we say a Wisconsin team ended the year winning a game for a (shared) championship.

I think it's the right call too. The odd thing is with these WIAA games being moved and reconfigured to get tourney games with hardly anyone in the stands.

[rickh150]

It is even Possible that we do not see this Wisconsin team play again this season... how crazy quickly has the world changed in like 3 days.

 

Yeah, that was ultra quick. Not many times can we say a Wisconsin team ended the year winning a game for a (shared) championship.

I think it's the right call too. The odd thing is with these WIAA games being moved and reconfigured to get tourney games with hardly anyone in the stands.

We'll see how bent the MLB is on getting started up again.