then coronavirus happened, 2020 baseball

MLB owners have approved a proposal for the 2020 season to present to the players’ union, source tells The Athletic. Meeting expected between union and league tomorrow.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) May 11, 2020

latest proposal, i think, was for teams of each geographic region to only play teams in their region. for example, an AL West team would only play AL West and NL West teams. 7 teams would make the playoffs in each league, with only the top team receiving a bye for the first round.

I don't know why they don't just write this season off. (I do know why: money.) Winning a title won't mean anything. I guess the counting-stats are important to possible outer-circle HOF-ers (I can think of a few players '94 hurt in that regard: Lofton, Cone, etc.), but there are a lot of hoops to jump through to salvage a mess. Doesn't some kind of insurance kick in? It did during the strike years.

union already hates the proposal, views 'revenue-sharing' as a salary cap

considering the way it's being framed (already) in the press, i don't think this is ground the union should want to fight on. it may not even be united on the matter, as long as the provisions cover just this season. they'd be better off focusing on the still-extremely-vague health and testing protocols

otoh, if you're gonna be guaranteed a certain percentage, one would assume that you'd get to look at the books in depth

fuck the press, the union and the owners agreed on payment a month ago and the owners are changing the deal last minute. why wouldn't they fight back on that? the union isn't beholden to public opinion, bob nightengale and his headline writers aren't a factor

mark teixeira says he would play for pennies on the dollar, (democratic) illinois governor slams players for 'holding out'

all v. cool

The billionaire governor, representing the people by supporting the owners

this doesn't seem like the move of an organization expecting to play anytime soon

About 40 percent of #Marlins baseball operations employees will be furloughed June 1, sources tell The Athletic. Total expected to be between 90 and 100. Team paying employees through May, expects to cover health benefits of those furloughed through October. Evaluating monthly.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) May 13, 2020

(pittsburgh's own) art howe is in the icu with the rona

Open-ended hospital stay for watching KBO.

Ravech and Perez are so Trumpist about having a season it's disgusting.

you alright?

Art Howe has been hospitalized in a Houston ICU for the past 5 days. It's been 13 days since first feeling symptoms and he tried to recover at home.

get well soon, morbs

this is extremely detailed and complex to the point of seeming impossible. oh, and also ownership wants the players to take less money while assuming these risks

MLB today sent the players’ union a 67-page document on proposed health and safety protocols for the 2020 season. The Athletic obtained a copy. The highlights, from me and @EvanDrellich: https://t.co/lsCvmShbuQ

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) May 16, 2020

summed up here: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29183345/mlb-safety-proposal-includes-10000-tests-per-week-social-distancing

stay \m/ morbs

so stupid the whole thing, just bag it

Is it really going to be balm for the people to watch these games?

It makes me anxious just thinking about it.

“ Tier 1 and 2 individuals would be discouraged from going to crowded bars.”

“Discouraged”?! Why the fuck would anyone playing professional sports need to go to any bar at all right now?!

to pick up chicks, obv

Pro soccer starting up again in Europe gives me hope that we'll see baseball this year. MLB can see what works and what doesn't over there, learn from mistakes, and so on.

I mean hopefully they are aware of this other continent and the kicky leg ball thing they play and can “learn” from how they handle things.
From what I’ve seen the last few months I’m skeptical tho.

I’d be willing to bet money that, even if they are pretty good about things, at least one team has an outbreak.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/parsing-mlbs-claim-of-a-4-billion-loss

The MLBPA is very disappointed with MLB’s economic proposal today, source tells me and @Ken_Rosenthal, calling additional cuts proposed “massive." League offered to share more playoff revenue, but on balance, those dollars are small compared to what players give up, PA believes.

— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) May 26, 2020

fine w/ no season this year

who cares?

i wish mlb, and to a greater extent the US, could get it's shit together. i'd be thrilled with 80 games played just in front of cameras.
but seeing that shitty offer from the owners and knowing that if they did start playing soon it would only be a matter of time before there were clubhouse out brakes. it really bums me out.
i'm slowly getting everything taken away from me. my job, my hobbies, my house, my mother... people have been so selfish and incompetent and stupid, i can't even watch a bunch of dumb meatheads hit balls with sticks.
this is going to go on way longer than it should have to and i don't know what will be left for me if/when it's done. i could just use some baseball.

the thing that sucks is that MLB is too concerned with the history books to do something fun like just starting the season with the playoffs like the NHL is considering

ya - this is the sort of thing that could shift me to a more hockey-centric person.

i have no idea how contact sports are going to re-open

i'd imagine the only way to do it safely (so probably won't happen) is to isolate the teams etc from everyone but themselves during the season.

yep, which understandably many players will refuse to do

I guess I'm in the extreme minority here, but I actually *don't* want to see baseball this year. There's something depressing about the prospect of these guy wearing masks and distancing in the dugout, not being able to use a ball that's been touched by more than two people (?!), policing all kind of personal habits, not to mention the eerieness of no crowds....

I'd much rather we all just relish a return to the game as we know it next sping.

same

yep

right - I just don't think you can do it unless something significant happens, like on the level of a vaccine or significant treatment. the US botched this so hard that there's just no chance of things returning to normal this summer. at this point it's hard to imagine them managing anything more than a 50-game season. I'd love to see them do something bizarre and unique but it won't be worth the trouble.

I think they're kind of in a good position to just write the season off, it really did start right when the pandemic was taking off so no one would blame them for punting until 2021. I'm more interested in what the NBA or NFL is gonna do. NBA has a season three quarters in the books & the NFL is gonna be starting right when we're (hopefully) at the "mostly under control, but still fearing a second wave" stage

in theory, i think MLB would like to be the first sport back in an otherwise sports-free environment, and having playoffs makes sense from a financial standpoint

in practice, none of it seems feasible and i think MLB is using the whole thing as a ploy to fuck over the players union

also, drink every time someone suggests that the return of baseball can help heal this wounded nation

first sport back

does tennis have any plans? i could watch some tennis right now

golf also seems like a relatively easy one to bring back

or knitting.

in lieu of the regular season maybe we can get a couple of guys to just chuck baseballs at the Houston Astros

there should be a national dunk tank, would pony up

i don't understand how the NHL thinks it can pull this off either

i mean there's no room on the bench for social distancing but everyone needs to be right there to make line changes. hockey equipment is absolutely disgusting under normal circumstances. the players literally sweat and spit on the ice then slide on/spray each other with it

there's not going to be social distancing of the players when these sports return. and they will inevitably return this year - there's too much money at stake. hub cities, players staying in campuses - whole resorts rented out, that kind of thing. regular monitoring for COVID. this will be the way.

NHL said they won’t play any games in Canada if they make the player quarantine.

I know it won't happen, but I like the idea of punting the regular season and just having a World Cup or Champions League style round robin tournament that runs for two months, with qualifying rounds, seedings, a knockout phase, etc. An 82 game season and expanded playoffs would be a joke, the season already has an asterisk, why not do something totally different.

bcz that's not baseball either?

I hate tournaments

if the season already has an asterisk, why put players through the risk?

NARRATOR: the poster knew why

There won't be "real" baseball this year no matter what, so we might as well go with the wacky tournament option and not have to deal with the "weight of history" and weird records being broken.

If they really wanted to get creative, they could include teams from international leagues (Cuba, Japan, Korea ...) to add prestige because it might be their one and only shot at doing a true Champions League.

i don't know if a pandemic is the best time to bring together teams from around the world...

All I'm saying is that if they want to have baseball in some form this year and are willing to deal with the risk, then there's not much point in trying to pretend that it's a real season with a World Series champion that nobody will take seriously.

xpost I know ... it's not realistic for plenty of reasons. But neither is an 82 game season with two thirds of the teams in the playoffs and 30 man rosters.

It gets worse.

This is rather amazing. MLB Network starting 64 consecutive hours of Derek Jeter programming tomorrow at 6 a.m. Bob Costas looks back on legendary moments from Jeter’s career throughout the weekend. Coverage includes 13 signature games.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) May 28, 2020

would rather catch the 'rona tbqh :-(

Yeah as someone who lives on the other side of the same state and our city barely just reopened distanced outdoor dining, that article feels like it could have taken place on a different planet.

Dodger pitchers can't throw strikes anymore

ahhhh... Kershaw was a late scratch, typical.

2020: MLB announces partnership with Lysol, in part to work on how best to disinfect ballparks with fans expected back in 2021.

From the press release: "Lysol products are also included in Postseason hotel welcome kits for players, staff and their families."

— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) October 14, 2020

Got COVID up
all in your cup?
LYSOL DOUCHE!!!!

"i'm honestly blown away people are going to strip clubs during a pandemic"

It occurred to me this spring that having a staff Zoom call preparing for COVID reopening at a NJ "Badaboom" gentleman's club could be a funny setup for a comedy sketch.

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/health/story/2020-10-14/county-orders-san-diego-strip-club-to-cease-and-desist