MLB says it will follow CDC guidelines, the season won’t start until after Memorial Day!
The New York Yankees and all of MLB are taking a second seat to the COVID-19 virus. As the national emergency builds and more gathering restrictions are put in place, an opening day for baseball seems moot. But for the diehard New York Yankee fans, they want to know when the season will start. The simple answer is there is no set date and with each passing day, that day seems to reach further into the future. With the most recent CDC recommendation, it suggests it may not be until May 10th at the earliest.
Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York, where the Yankees play at Yankee Stadium, have now closed Casinos, bars, restaurants, and gyms, along with banning gatherings of more than 50 people. With the building concern and attempts to limit exposure in public places, the two-week delay at the start of the season, now seems to be in the rearview mirror with recent CDC guidelines.
Because of the unknown attributes of the virus and its potential for spread, it is creating more questions than answers. The MLB is evaluating changes by the day and hour. Before the season starts, it would seem that teams would need a mini-training period. One of the big questions facing all of the sports is when starting the season begins, will it be a shortened season, or will the season move into November.
The last time there was a shortened season, it was only reduced a few weeks back in 1995. Back in 1981, during the baseball strike, teams only played between 102-110 games. In those 50 or so games of missed baseball, the loss was $441MM in player salaries, ticket sales, broadcast revenues, and concession revenues in today’s dollars. That’s $234MM in total owner losses and a loss of $12MM in player salaries each week of the strike. The Yankee owners and all team owners would like to get the 2020 season started as soon as it is safe for the players and fans alike.
It is doubtful at this point that MBL will try to complete a 162 day season. Most likely, it will be targeting a season of 110 days. Postseason games due to weather could not be played later than that in the northern states. Only the Diamondback’s Chase Field, Globe Life Park, home of the Rangers, Miller Park in Milwaukee, the Toronto Blue Jay’s Roger’s Stadium, and the Mariners T-Moble park have retractable roofs. Tropicana Park and Marlins Park, both in Florida, would not be affected weatherwise if the season was extended.
In a best-case scenario, COVID-19 will diminish as the season warms, just like it does with the common flu. However, we don’t know if that will be the case. It is not out of the realm of possibilities that if no control of the virus can be accomplished that the baseball season may be canceled altogether.
The photo accompanying this article was representative of the New York Yankee’s very first steps to control the virus by limiting the media to interview periods with players away from the locker room and by keeping the media at a “safe” distance.  Just days after this was instituted, spring training was canceled, and the start of the regular season delayed.
The only thing we really know for sure is that the virus continues to infect and in larger quantities each day. We know controlling this national emergency is more important than anything in sports. We also know that the situation is in flux and will remain fluid until coronavirus is under control or eradicated. Whatever the case the Yankees and MLB say they will follow CDC guidelines.
In MLB’s latest move they are donating $1 million dollars between baseball and the players association to combat hunger resulting from the closing of schools and lack of in-school breakfasts and lunches. The donation will be split between Feeding America and Meals on Wheels America.