Jonesing for some baseball are you? We all are, but the reality is we’re not going to see the old pastime for quite some time. MLB has already delayed the season by two weeks, but that is seen as unrealistic.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan believes the season won’t begin until May, and that’s if everything breaks right.
Joined @GetUpESPN this morning to talk about how the distinct expectation among those in baseball — owners, players, executives, nearly everyone — is that the earliest we’re likely to see games again is May. pic.twitter.com/S4bUktlFt5
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 13, 2020
The first thing that will have to happen is the normalization of American society. That may not happen for several months. New York is basically in lockdown. All major venues are shuttered for at least a month including Madison Square Garden, Barclays Center and Broadway. And those closures could last longer if the situation with Coronavirus worsens.
Should things improve and the government lifts the ban on gatherings of 250 people or more, that’s when the discussion will begin about resuming play. There’s also the prospect of playing games in front of no audience but that has met with a resistance from the teams and the players. If the venues aren’t safe for fans, they want no part of them, either.
When the green light is given, however, players will need time to ramp up for games, a second spring training of sorts. That could be as little as two weeks, though.
So, May could be a realistic target for MLB but as we stated, the direction the virus takes will be the driver of that. More incentive for everyone to band together to help stop the spread of the outbreak.