# Play ball!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** baseball-mlb\ **Created:** [April 5, 2020, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/play-ball/851152 "2020-04-05T21:57:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2020, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/play-ball/851152/1 "2020-04-05T21:57:12Z")
They did this during the Spanish Flu. > **[MLB players open to wearing masks to return to field after coronavirus...](https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-players-open-to-wearing-masks-to-return-to-field-after-coronavirus-shutdown-d-backs-infielder-says/)** > > The 2020 MLB season remains on hold ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2020, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/play-ball/851152/2 "2020-04-06T12:16:58Z")
Masks provide enough airflow for everyday activity, but athletes use a lot more air than most folks. Would it even be workable to play in masks? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2020, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/play-ball/851152/3 "2020-04-06T12:28:47Z")
Vague title, and then a link with no description. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/play-ball/851152/4 "2020-04-09T17:12:48Z")
So maybe there’s a chance they play in Arizona? > **[Sources: MLB, players eye May return in Arizona](https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29004498/mlb-union-focused-plan-allow-season-start-early-arizona)** > > Major League Baseball and its players are increasingly focused on a plan that could allow them to start the season as early as May in greater Phoenix and has the support of high-ranking federal public health officials, sources told ESPN. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/play-ball/851152/5 "2020-04-09T17:55:27Z")
Conceptually, it’s an interesting idea. It’d certainly give baseball fans (and, more broadly, Americans) some hope, and something to watch, but as the ESPN article notes, there would be enormous logistical challenges involved. The biggest one is sequestering/quarantining the entirety of 30 MLB teams for, potentially, four months or longer. The article suggests that teams would expand rosters, in case they have some players get sick (or injured). So, let’s hypothesize that the roster size goes up to 35. Add in the coaching staff, training staff, medical staff, clubhouse workers, and a couple of front-office personnel for each team, and you could be at 50 or 60 people per team. Multiply that by 30 teams, and you’re talking about 1500-1800 people who would all be in one “bubble” (not to mention groundkeeping staff, broadcast teams, etc.), and would need to remain together, and effectively in isolation, for months. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/play-ball/851152/6 "2020-04-09T18:34:27Z")
It seems unlikely to me unless the pandemic is much better by the start of May, and at least in the USA, that is not something I’d count on. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/play-ball/851152/7 "2020-04-09T19:16:51Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > It seems unlikely to me unless the pandemic is much better by the start of May, and **at least in the USA** , that is not something I’d count on. (bolding mine) And, that raises another potential challenge. Last season, [28.5% of players on Opening Day rosters were born outside of the U.S.](https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-rosters-feature-251-international-players) While many of those players undoubtedly now live full-time in the U.S., a lot of them don’t, and I imagine that many of them have gone home (or at least left the U.S.) in the past month. Plus, I imagine that a number of Blue Jays players live in Canada, and may have headed back home when training camps were clsoed. Getting those players back into the U.S. may be a challenge for some time. ---
**Author:** ![Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2020, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/play-ball/851152/8 "2020-04-10T01:11:26Z")
It’s also not just a matter of fielding two teams in an empty stadium. You also have the entire support crew of trainers, and ball field maintenance employees and so on. I can’t imagine a hotter transmission zone than a locker room. Hope all you want, it will happen when it’s ready. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2020, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/play-ball/851152/9 "2020-04-10T22:01:02Z")
> [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](#): > > It’s also not just a matter of fielding two teams in an empty stadium. You also have the entire support crew of trainers, and ball field maintenance employees and so on. I can’t imagine a hotter transmission zone than a locker room. Hope all you want, it will happen when it’s ready. We don’t have to rush things but the peak looks like it will be sometime next weekend. It looks like we will be past the worst of it by the end of the month.