Yeah, I know. If the DH takes in the NL, maybe down the road they can heavily realign the leagues based on geography, to try to alleviate the issue as best they can.
I think the best way to deal with all of this is to declare the games “exhibition games.” Then, no worries about dopey rule changes, tainted records, etc. People are dying to see some baseball, who cares if the games don’t really “count?”
On another note, what is happening with minor league baseball? Are there any plans?
I agree with you, as far as the “I want to see some baseball.” I wouldn’t care about rules, or records, just baseball. But my overall point was that 12 Phillies players and staff have contracted the virus. I don’t want to see baseball so much that it puts the teams at risk. The length of the “season” or its Xbox rules isn’t my main concern, or any concern at all.
I’m pretty sure the minor league season is done. So sad, the ravages of this virus.
Best thing (if there can be a best thing) about this coronavirus mess and baseball is that it lessens the impact of the cheating scandal on the Astros, who were sure to have received unmerciful treatment on their road games this season. By the time the 2021 season starts, I’m betting most of that controversy will have died down or, at the least, mitigated to a large degree.
I can imagine fans at Astros’ road games banging on things whenever a pitch is delivered.
No minor league season will probably make it easier to reduce the number of MiLB teams.
And, I agree that fans of the Astros and Rangers get stuck with their teams being in the AL West, the huge gap of relative emptiness between TX and the Pacific sucks, Phoenix doesn’t get on DST so they’re also two hours difference as a somewhat nearby team.
Do you remember when the Braves were in the NL West? That was a horrendous geographical gap. Half of their road games were on the west coast. It was great for dolts like me, who liked to stay up late watching Braves games on TBS.
I remember very well the Braves in the NL West, I spent endless hours watching Braves games on WTBS when there was nothing to do during summer breaks. From about 7th grade until college, summer breaks were boring since most of my friends were off at camp, traveling, or other stuff. I had baseball on the superstations, pro wrestling and HBO to entertain me all summer!
Because I have entirely too much time on my hands, I sorted all of the MLB cities (and in some cases, the stadiums) by longitude. Then I grouped them into six divisions of five teams each. From West to East, this is what I came up with:
Division 1: Giants, Mariners, A’s, Dodgers, Angels
Division 2: Padres, D-Backs, Rockies, Rangers, Astros
Division 3: Royals, Twins, Cardinals, Brewers, Cubs
Division 4: White Sox, Reds, Braves, Tigers, Rays
Division 5: Indians, Marlins, Pirates, Blue Jays, Nationals
Division 6: Orioles, Phillies, Yankees, Mets, Red Sox
Wrigley Field is slightly west of the White Sox stadium, Guaranteed Rate Field.
I was somewhat surprised to realize that Atlanta is farther west than both Detroit and Cleveland.
Undoubtedly there are better ways to group the divisions, but, as already noted, the Astros, Rangers, Rockies, and D-Backs will be frequent flyers no matter how the divisions are realigned.
Comiskey Park damn it. There is no guaranteed rate when you root for the White Sox, unless they’re guaranteeing you’ll be disappointed.
Yeah, the blackout rules are fucking complete bullshit. I could deal with it when I lived in San Diego, because I’m an Orioles fan and so none of my team’s games were affected; I got to see all of them. I didn’t care very much about the Padres anyway, and when I watched them it was usually in the ballpark rather than on TV, so a Padres blackout was irrelevant.
Now that I’m in Connecticut, though, I’m blacked out of both New York teams, and the Red Sox. The Yankees and Red Sox blackouts mean that, this season, I’ll miss fully one-third of Baltimore’s games on those two teams alone, and I’ll also miss another four games because the Orioles play the Mets four times.
I don’t think there’s any way they’ll waive the blackout rules. The TV stations want them too badly.
Not sure why this is a good thing. The Astros will deserve every bit of any “unmerciful treatment” they get from opposing fans.
The map does not lend itself to an easy solution:
https://i0.wp.com/sportleaguemaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2020-MLB-Map.png?resize=768%2C393&ssl=1
Division 1: Giants, Padres, A’s, Dodgers, Angels ( Condensed )
Division 2:, D-Backs, Rockies, Rangers, Astros, Mariners ( very spread out )
Division 3: Royals, Cardinals, Brewers, Cubs, White Sox ( Condensed )
Division 4:, Reds, Tigers, Indians, Pirates, Twins
Division 5: Rays, Braves, Marlins, Orioles, Nationals
Division 6:, Phillies, Yankees, Mets, Red Sox Blue Jays, (Condensed)
There’s no good way to make the map, even if we moved the two struggling Florida teams out west. San Antonio/Austin could support a team if you could get around the Rangers/Astros and then maybe Salt Lake City. There just aren’t a lot of other places. Portland Oregon would be good for the Mariners but it’s certainly not close for most of the other Western teams.
And if we move the Florida teams, that makes a huge hole in the USA. But neither the Rays or Marlins have shown they can draw except when they’re hot or the Yankees/Red Sox/Mets/Cubs visit
The blackout rules are going to have to be dealt with. Cutting the cord is only going to be more common and heading to a sports bar for every MLB game can’t be a solution. Making every game available online, including the home team that’s a real home team needs to be the goal. A lot of fans want to watch online but not play games with the get around solutions. We’re still watching the same commercials in a live game.
How can they not have minor league games? Where will they get the inevitable injury replacements/
Players will still be attached to their ML teams and some will be called up. But, for most, they will have to seek employment elsewhere to pay bills.
From this extensive ESPN article on how the MLB agreement will work:
The article also has a lot of frank observations on the ways in which all of this could go sideways if players start testing positive for the disease.
Not that I wish harm on any MLB athlete or staffer. But …
Part of the reason so much of the US public isn’t taking COVID seriously is unless your grandma was in a cheap-ass nursing home near NYC, by and large nobody knows anybody who’s been significantly sick, much less dead*.
Awful as it is to say, had Tom Hanks and his SO died or been crippled back in the early days of COVID it’s likely that thousands of other Americans would still be alive today.
If indeed COVID quickly rips through the celebrity ranks of MLB, NFL, NBA, taking down a few famous men in the prime of life in the peak of athletic good health despite infinite money for medical care, well …
That will make the disease much more real for the vast number of Americans who think of themselves, of celebrities, and no one else.
Sometimes “Scared Straight” is the only way to reach the people with the mentalilty of mules. Golly I wish it weren’t so, but it appears it is.
* The next 4 weeks may be a giant wakeup call for AZ, FL, & TX. Maybe 10K or 20K mostly anonymous deaths in just a week or two will achieve the same thing that 5 or 10 celebrity deaths would have. We shall see.
I speak as an Astros fan . . .