MLB: Teams telling players to “get ready”

Jeff Passan reported on Wednesday on SportsCenter that several MLB teams are telling their players to “get ready.” Passan said that right now, there isn’t an official date, but there is increased speculation about a Spring Training report date of June 10th with Opening Day on July 1st. Former MLB player Trevor Plouffe tweeted that he’s heard those dates of late.

Passan also said that “the expectation is that MLB is going to be coming to the Players Association with a plan in the coming days, to a week-plus or so.” This basically means that if approved by the Players Association, the season will be set.

However, several executives are becoming a bit worried about increasing coronavirus numbers in states that are relaxing restrictions, per Ken Rosenthal. Severe enough outbreaks could shutdown the season again, making it “difficult for baseball to resume.”

Cases will likely increase in most states as they open up, at least for some time. With so many people needing to work to support their families, most states have had no option but to reopen. Strict social distancing and travel guidelines in reopened states need to be enforced to slow the spread while making the economy function.

If states open and they can’t control the spread with guidelines, then everything will have to get shut down to regain control of the situation. That would include baseball and other sports, at least in those states.

Even with increasing cases in some states, the MLB is still planning to go ahead with the season. We have no idea how long the season will be, but it will be better than nothing. Baseball will have an opportunity to be the center of attention again and try to gain back fans they’ve lost along the way.