A plan has reportedly emerged that could allow for Major League Baseball to return from its COVID-19 hiatus as early as May.
Major League Baseball could be back sooner than expected.
Just writing those words gives me goosebumps. Per Jeff Passan of ESPN, the league and the players union are working on a plan that could facilitate a return to baseball as soon as May.
This marks an incredible ray of optimism in the sports world. Up until this point, the prevailing predictions were that baseball wouldn’t be played in 2020. At the very least, fans were prepared to see drastic changes to the season’s structure to compensate for the lack of games played.
Fortunately, a new plan has emerged. According to Passan, the league’s plan revolves around playing in near-total isolation from the world.
All 30 teams will play in Arizona. There will be no fans in attendance. Players will also live in hotels, cut off from their friends and families.
But at least, baseball would be back.
Obviously, there are a countless number of concerns that need to be addressed. The logistics of making something like this possible are way beyond anything the league has dealt with in the past. Not least among those concerns is getting the players to agree to separate from their families for months.
But it will encourage fans to know that the plan has the support of highly-ranking members of the public health community.
Details need to be released and the plan needs to be finalized. But let’s just take a moment to be hopeful that Major League Baseball could return way sooner than expected.
Let’s also not overlook the fact that Major League Baseball becoming the only game in town during these crazy times would go a long way in spreading the game. Even if that game is just a shell of what it should’ve been.
