COVID-19 impact on MLB season

[et bbal]

People who bought tickets on secondary market may get screwed.

[MrTPlush]

People who bought tickets on secondary market may get screwed.

 

No, any legit site refunds.

[wildcat83]

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.

 

 

Pretty sure no games no pay for players. I’ve seen a lot of tweets pertaining to that already.

[NYChez]

In 1981, teams played as few as 48 games in the 2nd half of the split season, which began in August, and playoffs and a World Series were played.

[crossface21]

Just declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. Really no reliable data yet to indicate how far reaching and how long the spread will be. Frankly, nothing that comes from the government of China is worth listening too. I think ground zero for reliable data is probably Italy, and it looks very bad there.

 

If I were a MLB owner, I'd be seriously concerned that this could kill attendance for the first 1.5-2 months. Europe should have been out ahead of this, and looking at the John Hopkins map...almost the entire continent is shaded in red. I didn't see any precautions taken by the US government early on to make me think it will be any different here.

 

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

 

Be careful of that John Hopkins map. I read tonight that it's malware.

[jjgott]

Do people think that the schedule will just pick up wherever it is when games start again? Selfishly my dad and I were excited that the Brewers were scheduled to play in AZ on his birthday in June.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

Yeah, there's just a lot of wiggle room in an MLB season, so I'd be very surprised if the season didn't happen at all. Who knows at this point, but it just seems like, given the resources that are now being deployed, there may be a semi-reliable antiviral in a few months, and that does a lot to mitigate risk. Not to mention potential for the outbreak being curbed by proactive public health measures (school closures, etc.).

 

Obviously, sports are no big deal at this point. It's all hands on deck to fight the virus. That said:

 

I'd rather be MLB than just about any other pro sports league at this point. You just have more wiggle room given that we're two weeks from Opening Day, and the season was scheduled to start way early anyway. And you can lose two weeks and still play a feasible 150 game schedule.

 

Semi-facetious question: When a computer runs this simulation millions of times, in how many scenarios does MLB lift blackout restrictions because of this? 0? 4? 100? I hope we live in that simulation.

[3and2Fastball]

Last week my wife was making fun of me that I still had some World Series Games and the All Star Game on our DVR. Now at least I have some Baseball to watch...

 

I would imagine pitchers will need to “restart” and need an almost full month and get ramped back up if this goes any longer than expected

[Ennder]

Do people think that the schedule will just pick up wherever it is when games start again? Selfishly my dad and I were excited that the Brewers were scheduled to play in AZ on his birthday in June.

 

Unless things change swiftly and we only lose 2 weeks or so of the season they will just cancel the missed games. If somehow things change rapidly and we only miss like 2-3 weeks they will try to make the games up as best they can. Most likely games will pick up like in May or maybe June and they will just truncate the schedule.

[MrTPlush]

I’d imagine they would try to the best of their ability to make the schedule as accurate as possible. The logistical horror and upheaval if they started changing opponents/locations would a total nightmare.

 

If Opening Day (or any game for that matter) is canceled and it is instead some other game on the schedule I am sure one would get an outright refund or whatever face value was as a credit for a different 2020 game. I know one team has announced that later. It isn’t perfect, but that does solve the problem of getting screwed out of Opening Day. At least you still get that tickets value and not a straight swap for an inferior game.

 

Really unfair to some teams if games get canceled and divisional match ups end up disproportionate etc. For example we play the Cubs/Cards right away. If those games aren’t made up those are some tough games we just threw off our schedule. The Reds on the other hand would lose their 3 game series to the 95 loss Blue Jays.

[brewcrewdue80]

Do people think that the schedule will just pick up wherever it is when games start again? Selfishly my dad and I were excited that the Brewers were scheduled to play in AZ on his birthday in June.

 

Man thats a good question. Considering we eere starting right out of the gates vs Chi. I'd vote they would move around in division games for games not in the division where schedules fit. For Example Mil/Chi both during a 3game series face opponents outside the Division that also happen to coincide with those two or 4, 6, etc. Teams being able to play a 3game series they missed vs a division Opponent.

I guess one outlet would be interleague games, though theyve more spread those games vs like a 7day week of all interleague games played.

 

Point being, say 2 teams miss 7games vs each other while other teams in division play all but 3missed? End of season The 2 teams are within 3games of each other while 1 team that played a full slate vs both, is 1game behind?

 

I'd think you could maneuver a number of games. In this way.

 

Theres another idea on Double Headers I have. Where the games are reduced to 7innings and ties are given, no extra innings that day. If when the season ends the ties matter due to playoffs, MLB has the two teams finish out the game?

[djoctagone]

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.

both major league and minor league players don't get a paycheck until opening day (or shortly thereafter). keep in mind that even under normal circumstances, minor league opening day is two weeks later than major league opening day.

 

the income inequities of minor league players have been well-documented in recent years.

 

worth reading this twitter thread on what the cubs are considering doing for their minor league players . . .

[mtrebs]

I can’t imagine them trying to move around matchups to ensure missed divisional games are played. Seems like a logistical nightmare, if it’s even possible. Instead my bet is that they play a shortened season. Sure, some teams may benefit from missing tougher matchups, but thats life I guess.

 

Depending on how many games they miss, potentially some of these series could be added at the end of the season, but it’s unlikely they’d be able to add more than a few series.

[LouisEly]

Possible they cancel the All-Star game and play make-up games during the break instead.

 

Expand rosters by 1-2 players and add more double-headers on days before off-days. Still need to keep some off-days on the schedule.

[Fear The Chorizo]

With regard to the schedule, it all depends on how long the games are postponed for - a two week delay could realistically be made up by playing the regular season into mid October. Remember April is littered with a bunch of extra offdays to make sure teams with outdoor stadiums get home openers.

 

As it stands, a two week regular season schedule delay doesn't mean that pitchers and players can't continue ramping up for the season by throwing/hitting on the side, too. Depending how this progresses, two weeks from not MLB may be able to reopen spring training facilities for players to at least get organized workouts/games in through April 10, then the season could start the week of April 13.

 

If the delay winds up lasting significantly longer, then I think all bets are off in terms of a what a protracted schedule would look like - they may even wind up scrapping the existing schedules to reduce travel and give teams equal opportunities to make the postseason. I'd think interleague games would be first to be eliminated, and they could also keep a heavier scheduling focus on interdivisional matchups, perhaps by adding just one 4 game series with all other NL clubs in other divisions.

[Manty Brewer Fan]

I wonder what COVID-19 will do for impacts on J2 and June Amateur draft... even if delayed or not... it seems like most ability to evaluate for an entire season of games is out the window.

[monty57]

My family has planned (and paid for) a two-week trip in July, seeing six games in six different cities. I'd be upset if they change the schedule in order to save divisional match-ups. I'm assuming that they will just keep the existing schedule and start the season when they can, making up as many games as possible on off days and potentially extending the end of the season by a week or so.

 

It's easier for them to refund/exchange a few games at the beginning of the season than it would be to make up a new schedule and have to refund/exchange every ticket that has been bought. As mtrebs said, that would be a logistical nightmare.

[BrewCrewForever]

I just pray this doesn't affect the series in Boston June 5,6,7 that we already have all booked including tickets for the Friday night game.

[djoctagone]

also curious how it affects non-roster invitees with more than six years service time who finished 2019 on a 40-man roster or major league injured list--regarding their roster status and potential retention bonus.

 

if the general language is that the non-roster player must be informed within five days of opening day, but doesn't specify when opening day is, then presumably, the brewers could hang on to a player like logan morrison for a bit longer before deciding what to do with him.

 

under normal circumstances, a non-roster player may make the opening day roster because another rostered player is injured. two weeks may be enough time for the injured player to heal, further hurting the chances of the non-roster player of making the club.

[MVP2110]

Yea I can't imagine they will go through the logistical nightmare of rescheduling games. I'd guess they'll just play with an unbalanced schedule. Even if that gives some teams an unfair advantage

[MrTPlush]

I think there is close to a zero percent chance they try to make up games on off days. you guys are forgetting many games inevitably will be rained out over the course of the season. You are going to cancel games, there is absolutely no way to sugar coat it. You could cancel the All Star break to make up a series...but why on earth would you do that? That just sounds terrible. Only way that happens is if the season is suddenly canceled to the point calling players All Stars is a joke. They certainly won't cancel it purely to make up 3 games.

 

You simply have to leave it the way it is and throw away the missed games like they were never scheduled. Then, when it does start, it will move along smoothly without issues. You will have the standard off days to reschedule games that get rained out etc. and people who had tickets to those games can have zero issues and all the travel planning can stay the same. Logistical dream.

 

The only potential issue is I think you would have to somehow balance games played. Which probably does not match if we miss the first 2 weeks or month +.

[brewcrewdue80]

So I'm briefly/quickly going over some of the schedules just to give an example on the switching idea say the League only suspends 2 weeks. In Week 1 the Brewers face the Cubs 3 games and similarly the Nationals face the Mets 3 games. Week 4 would end with the Brewers at the Mets 3 games while the Cubs hosted the Nationals 4 games. Right there you could slide the Brewers to face the Cubs and Mets to host the Nationals. (sure the Cubs are hosting vs on the road, but that can be addressed I'm sure. As same with Nationals having road games while they should have been home games) But simply in 2weeks' worth of time I found a switch that could work for 4 teams to get the in division games played cancelling out of division games. of the 4 teams I looked at the schedule have 2 game interleague series to end week 2. Philly vs Tor Mets vs Astros. Off Days surrounded the 2game series. For Milw it would total 11games with 8 vs Division to make up. And the following 2 weeks no added division games to make up. The NL East I checked Mets/Phillies/Nationals and the variable for them is 10-12games in division missed. It'll be some work, but gotta be considered manageable. To be honest, it's being really hopeful that the Season begins only missing 2 weeks. But also, if it did, moving around the H/A factor, how much would it matter if they played without crowds and just flipped the teams with top of inning to bottom of inning? It's 14days quarantine right now right? Sigh, just a mess because like the NBA, what happens when a Player for a team comes down with the virus when the season was started back up? Wouldn't basically that team need to be quarantined for 14 days?

[MrTPlush]

NBA has already been honest and said it looks like a month minimum. Mind you they can start up right away, I would guess. MLB has already said some type of spring training/conditioning would have to happen first. The odds the season is only delayed 2 weeks would be nothing short of a miracle.

 

While your example did work for a single series I bet that doesn't work for all teams...not to mention how are you rescheduling the Cardinals...who we also face in the first slate of games that is canceled? And great, we play the Cubs now...but now the Cubs never play the Nationals while every other NL Central team plays them 4 times? You just aren't fixing the schedule if weeks start getting canceled.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Everyone's favorite ump, Angel Hernandez, casually said "See you in June" to reporters after the suspension announcement.

[JohnBriggs12]

Once the tests are readily available and athletes can be tested weekly, just start playing the games first with empty stadiums at first if you must. Risks to athletes in their 20's and 30's is minimal. The rest of us have to go to work.