COVID-19 impact on MLB season

[Eye Black]

Assuming MLB plays a fullish season, itll be interesting what they deem as the cutoff for qualified batters/pitchers for the awards considering some players have incentives based on where/if they stand in the rankings.

I am interested to see if they insert a cutoff for minimum number of games a team needs to play in order to make the playoffs. If the Marlins never played another game during the regular season they would be a playoff team due to their current .667 winning percentage. The Orioles are 5-3, if they have to miss a chunk of the season it isn't inconceivable they could sneak into the 16-team field (okay, it's the Orioles and it probably is actually inconceivable).

 

I can't wait until the 26-22 Cardinals win the NL Central over the 32-28 Brewers and Cubs because of their better winning percentage.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

It seems clear that once a player or staff member tests positive (esp. on a road trip), it is goodbye for at least a week. How can you continue to play and send individuals out into hotels and cities is a bit beyond my grasp. I want baseball as much as anyone, but the season is 10 days old, and a big chunk of the schedule is postponed. MLB has made a mess of this all around. Some players have been irresponsible, but the league set up a bad system. I know so many people who casually said "Well, baseball should be fun for 2 weeks," and any organization dumb enough to look at this plan and think it workable deserves criticism and financial loss.

The part I don't understand is even if they limped through a season, I have no idea how the 16-team playoff field would work if you continued to have teams with cases. Delaying playoff series' for a week or more at a time, and then possibly having teams play without a third of their playoff roster seems impractical.

 

Especially true because there was all that talk of "anxiety" about needing to finish up as early as possible in order to avoid bad weather and a potential late fall/winter resurgence.

 

Two things are pulling me in opposite directions in terms of where I see this going: 1) It seems totally clear that continuing to play is very unlikely to work. The margin for error is so small, and even if there are a couple of simulations where MLB gets through the rest of this with minimal cases, the vast, vast majority would seem to point toward more infections, more postponements, more outbreaks. 2) OTOH, I think MLB is a lot like the college where I work. They see the $, they have no priors or public promises about what will cause the season to stop, and they're basically tunnel-visioning their way into a day-by-day, damage-control approach that they see as essential for protecting the bottom line.

 

So, maybe the virus forces their hand with another team-wide outbreak. Maybe the opt-outs get too big to swallow. Maybe there's just no way to make the season at all legit. Maybe then it all crumbles. But I would not be surprised at all if we are in "too big to fail" territory at this point (and that goes double for the NFL) and we get a whole lot of discordant highlight videos and sports talk analysis and PR statements trying to cover the glaringly obvious problem of playing baseball in the middle of a pandemic.

[owbc]

There’s no evidence that the Marlins broke the rules.

 

Huh? There's absolutely evidence that Marlins players violated protocols. The league certainly should shoulder a lot of blame too, but let's put some accountability also where it belongs on individuals making bad choices.

 

https://www.thebiglead.com/posts/miami-marlins-players-ignored-protocols-punished-01eekke2hp5q

 

Marlins CEO Derek Jeter asked for empathy towards his players. He said his players were not hanging out in bars or running all over town or generally acting recklessly. But he did say that “some of our traveling party had a false sense of security and comfort.”

 

Jeter seems to imply that they did violate some protocols but nothing egregious. But who knows what he is withholding.

 

As for the Cardinals:

 

Here's a simple way to explain the #STLCards situation: A traveling group of 57 took off one week ago. The team now thinks one of those players was infected with Covid-19. Within five days, he had spread it to 12 others. The last positive was from Friday testing.

[adambr2]

That, and some of them were hanging out at the casino.

[tomwopat]

If the season is called off or some of the postponed games are never played, do those games count against the players' prorated salary? If that's the case, if I were one of the players making league minimum or who has made little money playing major league ball, I'd be rather upset at the players who acted irresponsibly.

[Eye Black]

If the season is called off or some of the postponed games are never played, do those games count against the players' prorated salary? If that's the case, if I were one of the players making league minimum or who has made little money playing major league ball, I'd be rather upset at the players who acted irresponsibly.

I was wondering as well in terms of not all teams playing 60 games. I think players get paid for each service day, not actual games played. I believe player prorated salaries are spread out over the 66 scheduled services days this year, but I’m not certain. If that is the case they’d be getting paid for each day of the season that they’re on the roster even if games are not all played.

[brewcrewdue80]

Assuming MLB plays a fullish season, itll be interesting what they deem as the cutoff for qualified batters/pitchers for the awards considering some players have incentives based on where/if they stand in the rankings.

I am interested to see if they insert a cutoff for minimum number of games a team needs to play in order to make the playoffs. If the Marlins never played another game during the regular season they would be a playoff team due to their current .667 winning percentage. The Orioles are 5-3, if they have to miss a chunk of the season it isn't inconceivable they could sneak into the 16-team field (okay, it's the Orioles and it probably is actually inconceivable).

 

I can't wait until the 26-22 Cardinals win the NL Central over the 32-28 Brewers and Cubs because of their better winning percentage.

 

Well technically the Brewers cant finish 32-28 missing that Cardinal series. Unless of course they made up the games.

[Eye Black]

Well technically the Brewers cant finish 32-28 missing that Cardinal series. Unless of course they made up the games.

Okay, the 26-22 Cardinals, over the 30-27 Brewers and 32-28 Cubs.

[DHonks]

The cardinals should have forfeited the games.... Then to hear their fans cry out that they were cheated....I’d love it.

[CheezWizHed]

Maybe you take the other 30 guys on the 60-man and go play the series the "A squad" couldn't play? Yes, only 10 of those players are on the 40-man, but rules are made to be broken...

 

That’s what I’m thinking. They have a taxi squad for a reason. Just make if next man up and play ball.

 

You still have to deal with the exposure of the rest of the 30-man team. That is why I suggested playing with the other 30.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Missing the last weekend of games and then Cain dropping out took a lot of the wind out of my sails. If one of our best players and leaders doesn't care about this, it's pretty hard for me to care. I don't mean that as a criticism of him at all, but it's just difficult for me to take this sloppy mess seriously. You can't go to the games, then they're adding goofy rules, it's not really working and then guys are quitting. I felt before it started that I would take a WS title seriously, but I can't say that anymore. Something about the whole thing just feels off. When I watch the NBA right now, it doesn't feel as empty.

[TURBO]

I suggest you tune out then, and let the rest of us enjoy this for what it is....BASEBALL!

 

You know why it feels off, because it is off!

 

I have no connection to the NBA, talk about a bunch of guys going through the motions until the playoffs start... I watched about 10 minutes of both Bucks games and was bored. Horrible looking courts, poor lighting, political nonsense, I think the NBA is a lot more "empty" than MLB.

 

At least we have guys fighting for their careers in MLB to watch. We see guys getting to play on a lot of teams that wouldn't have had the chance if things were normal.

 

Yup, it's messy, and yes, it is a giant step backwards from what the normal MLB season looks like, but I'll take this over no baseball at all any and every day.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

I suggest you tune out then, and let the rest of us enjoy this for what it is....BASEBALL!

 

You know why it feels off, because it is off!

 

I have no connection to the NBA, talk about a bunch of guys going through the motions until the playoffs start... I watched about 10 minutes of both Bucks games and was bored. Horrible looking courts, poor lighting, political nonsense, I think the NBA is a lot more "empty" than MLB.

 

At least we have guys fighting for their careers in MLB to watch. We see guys getting to play on a lot of teams that wouldn't have had the chance if things were normal.

 

Yup, it's messy, and yes, it is a giant step backwards from what the normal MLB season looks like, but I'll take this over no baseball at all any and every day.

 

There is no part of this that I disagree with. Amen! Any baseball is better than no baseball.

[Eye Black]

Yadier Molina announced he is one of the Cardinals that tested positive for COVID-19.

 

The part I don't understand is he caught both games against the Twins last week (Tues., July 28th and Wed., 29th). He was at home plate exposing both the home plate umpires and Twins hitters. I know the transmission outdoors is more unlikely, but I am surprised MLB shut down the Phillies for a week due to fear of exposure, but didn't do the same with either the Twins or the umpire team in a similar circumstance.

[owbc]

Missing the last weekend of games and then Cain dropping out took a lot of the wind out of my sails. If one of our best players and leaders doesn't care about this, it's pretty hard for me to care. I don't mean that as a criticism of him at all, but it's just difficult for me to take this sloppy mess seriously. You can't go to the games, then they're adding goofy rules, it's not really working and then guys are quitting. I felt before it started that I would take a WS title seriously, but I can't say that anymore. Something about the whole thing just feels off. When I watch the NBA right now, it doesn't feel as empty.

 

+1 to all of this.

[adambr2]

While I agree with the above two posters, I actually differ in the many now that think the shutdown of the season is inevitable.

 

I think they are pretty bound and determined to get through this and not deal with the many headaches that would also come about of figuring out the logistics of canceling the season now. Obviously things could get much worse and that could change...but I think that's where they're at right now. Hard to believe if they weren't going to just call this whole thing off they wouldn't have just done it already.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I don't think it's going to get cancelled either. That would have happened by now. I think they'll push through unless it's totally catastrophic, like a player is intubated. Of course, if the Brewers end up one the last 4 teams I'm sure I'll be all into it again.

[owbc]

Yep, Manfred is not a quitter...

 

I agree with turborickey that I'm very happy to have some baseball to watch. And there are plenty of interesting storylines, such as whether Logan Morrison will get a hit before he gets released

 

My irritation with the procedures is mostly because I am a big baseball fan, and I wish it was MLB and not the NBA that was setting the right example of how to operate in the COVID era.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

Yep, Manfred is not a quitter...

 

I agree with turborickey that I'm very happy to have some baseball to watch. And there are plenty of interesting storylines, such as whether Logan Morrison will get a hit before he gets released

 

My irritation with the procedures is mostly because I am a big baseball fan, and I wish it was MLB and not the NBA that was setting the right example of how to operate in the COVID era.

 

Yup. Both things can be true. I can enjoy having baseball and also recognize that it's totally meaningless and hard to care about losses. I'll get excited about wins, I think, though, so maybe that's the best way for this to be. It'll be fun to watch, and, when MLB buries its head and plays amid disaster, the Brewers will either be a playoff team or have a good draft pick. Somebody said that before (Eye Black, maybe?), but it's feeling more and more true every day.

 

I also get the baseball really did have it the hardest in a lot of ways. The NBA and NHL (and MLS, for that matter) are basically doing tournament play for a limited amount of time (2 months or so). They both played meaningful regular seasons before the shutdown. Players got paid. Baseball had none of that. It's hard to move to a bubble with 25-man teams plus coaches plus support staff for 3 months. But, yeah. Excuses aside. NBA and NHL feel way, way more competitively meaningful right now.

[tmwiese55]

Being no fans couldn't it make sense to move up start times from 7 to 6 or 630? Games are at 7 to give people time to get there and to be away from end of day rush hour a bit more. One reason I can think against it would be something in the TV contracts, and they might like 7 as a better timeslot. But in the current state of affairs I don't think Fox Sports is going to care on that.

[SomewhereInTime]

Being no fans couldn't it make sense to move up start times from 7 to 6 or 630? Games are at 7 to give people time to get there and to be away from end of day rush hour a bit more. One reason I can think against it would be something in the TV contracts, and they might like 7 as a better timeslot. But in the current state of affairs I don't think Fox Sports is going to care on that.

 

One thing I love about west coast trips is 9p games. When I get home from work I like enjoying what daylight we have left and go run or bike.

[bjkrautk]

https://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/birdland/facts-refute-claims-cardinals-got-covid-19-at-casino/article_1d8341d8-33f2-5e31-83d9-3c875927161b.html

 

Saw this story on my Twitter feed; in case you were wondering how Cardinals fans could try to blame Milwaukee for their players getting sick.

[Eye Black]

The Brewers lose a home game because of the Cardinals COVID debacle. The September 14th and 16th games at Miller Park will now be doubleheaders, but so will the September 25th date at Busch Stadium. The Brewers will be the “home team” in the first game of that doubleheader despite it being in St. Louis.

[DuWayne Steurer]

The Brewers lose a home game because of the Cardinals COVID debacle. The September 14th and 16th games at Miller Park will now be doubleheaders, but so will the September 25th date at Busch Stadium. The Brewers will be the “home team” in the first game of that doubleheader despite it being in St. Louis.

 

 

WIthout fans I don't think it matters all that much. THere's going to be a fair amount of teams that lose home games this year. The BLue Jays won't even see Toronto, so I'm not going to complain about playing 31 games out of 60 on the road.

 

This season is presenting a lot of unique challenges, and if the season even gets completed, let alone have a few odd schedule quirks along the way, the players and everyone else will be lucky to see it through to the end.

[Vgmastr]

The Brewers lose a home game because of the Cardinals COVID debacle. The September 14th and 16th games at Miller Park will now be doubleheaders, but so will the September 25th date at Busch Stadium. The Brewers will be the “home team” in the first game of that doubleheader despite it being in St. Louis.

 

 

WIthout fans I don't think it matters all that much. THere's going to be a fair amount of teams that lose home games this year. The BLue Jays won't even see Toronto, so I'm not going to complain about playing 31 games out of 60 on the road.

 

This season is presenting a lot of unique challenges, and if the season even gets completed, let alone have a few odd schedule quirks along the way, the players and everyone else will be lucky to see it through to the end.

 

Yeah, it's not going to be like that Marlins series in Milwaukee where the Marlins were the home team due to the hurricane and the stadium was filled with Brewer fans. Even though it's in Busch Stadium the fake crowd noise will be cheering for the Brewers and the scoreboards will have Brewer-centric graphics like it was a home game.