MLB discusses plan to return and players seem to hate it - A Hunt and Peck

On Wednesday Ben Godar discussed baseball’s latest proposition to attempt to begin the 2020 season in the midst of the health crisis that is the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, to be clear, this is not at all official. Major League Baseball made clear to specify in a statement:

MLB issued a statement Tuesday saying that while the one-location plan has been discussed, “We have not settled on that option or developed a detailed plan.”

Which is good a thing because the plan that has been shared so far... it is not so good.

Here are some of the details, per Jeff Passan of ESPN:

• All 30 teams play games at stadiums with no fans in the Phoenix area
• Players, coaching staffs and other essential personnel would be sequestered at local hotels, where they would live in relative isolation and travel only to and from the stadium

There is also talk of:

• No mound visits from the catcher or pitching coach
• Seven-inning doubleheaders
• Players sitting in the empty stands 6 feet apart — the recommended social-distancing space — instead of in a dugout

Like Ben wrote, it could get weird.

There is one little problem with this proposal that might put an end to the whole idea: the players, they are not so cool with it.

It is not really clear what this means for baseball going forward, but it appears a plan that would keep players separated from their families for months at a time it likely not going to work. This probably means baseball activities will not be able to resume until it is safe to repeal some social distancing restrictions, which seems like it will not be for quite awhile yet.

Sources - MLB, union focused on plan that could allow season to start as early as May in Arizona | ESPN

Baseball in Arizona: Could it Work? | FanGraphs Baseball

The MLB plan to start the 2020 season is too wild to be realistic | SBNation.com

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