I know it’s easy to say now, but on a day where Tim Kurkjian says there’s only a 25% chance of MLB finishing the season, I can’t help but think baseball could’ve been doing what they’ve been doing from the original start date of the season.
What do I mean by that?
If you think about it, they really haven’t done anything at all to prevent the spread of corona. They wrote 103 pages of rules in a handbook no one read, and no one monitors those rules anyway, therefore no one follows them. (I’ve seen plenty of spitting, high-fiving, sunflower seeds, and non-mask wearing [in the dugouts.] And those are just three of the rules I know of…Not to mention a bunch of the Marlins decided to hit the bars when they were in Philadelphia. Definitely not allowed I’m sure.)
Teams still travel around and stay in hotels virtually the exact same way they would have at the start of any other season, the only major difference being they mostly stay in their region.
The only thing they are really doing differently is testing everyday.
The virus certainly hasn’t gotten any better the last few months. In fact it’s worse that it was in a lot of places. And MLB didn’t pad in any extra time at the end of the 60 game schedule to play any make-up games due to Covid issues. Instead they just said if not all teams play 60 games, they’ll be going by winning percentage instead of overall record to determine the standings, and they added 6 extra playoff spots.
So it’s sort of ironic. Baseball could have basically started the season on time, announced then that they’d be playing a reduced 100 game schedule, and be keeping 60-90 days of insurance on the back end for coronavirus issues.
Then gone out and spent a bunch of money on testing kits. Baseball could have easily afforded them. (Let’s not pretend like money doesn’t talk, even when it comes to acquiring Covid-19 testing materials when they’re supposedly scarce.) Then announced they’d be playing games in empty stadiums, and boom. Season secured.
As it is now, every Twins game I watch I’m assuming it’s the last one of the season, and it’s taking away from the experience. Even as they somehow continue to win games in the exact opposite fashion I was expecting…Great pitching and timely hitting.
