The latest news out of the New York Yankees empty spring training camp indicates baseball’s return to action could be imminent.
Video games and all-time roster simulations are great, but they’re just not the same as actual, live baseball. That truth makes recent rumors that the New York Yankees may start training again next week all the more exhilarating.
“At the very least, the Yankees are expecting some players might return to Florida,” Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News wrote. “According to two sources around their Major League spring training site, they have been told to expect ‘some’ players to return to George M. Steinbrenner Field as soon as next week.”
MLB suspended spring training on March 12 due to concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic. The future of the 2020 season has been uncertain ever since.
The league has been proactive in the meantime. It sponsored an “MLB The Show” players league and put together a Dream Bracket simulation featuring each team’s all-time roster.
Tommy Kahnle was eliminated from the MLB Players League last night, but crazy Tommy definitely left his mark on the gaming industry ? pic.twitter.com/joFJVquhsW
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) April 28, 2020
Plans for on-field baseball to return have also been tossed around. In fact, SNY’s Andy Martino reported on April 28 that MLB is taking a serious look at 15 different proposals for starting the 2020 season.
Per Martino, the plans range from playing all games in Arizona to opening various other locations with minimal team travel. Another recent report revealed that MLB is considering temporarily reorganizing the league into three 10-team divisions, playing with no fans in attendance, and squeezing 100 games into the season.
Whatever happens, the 2020 MLB season will be extremely unusual. For example, the league realignment plan would put the New York Mets and the Yankees in the same division.
But the good news is that if the league enacts a plan, baseball will finally be played. And that’s all that really matters.
