We’ve all heard the various rumors regarding plans for Major League Baseball’s 2020 season. First, they involved teams playing at their Spring Training facilities in Florida and Arizona while leaving players separated from their families. A newer proposal reported on last week suggests that teams may split into three different divisions and play in their home stadiums without any fans. The latter appears to be the plan with the most focus on it at the moment and has left MLB officials “optimistic” of an Opening Day by July 2nd at the very latest, per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.
Fast forward to this afternoon when an old AL Central rival tweeted something that goes along those same lines. Former Minnesota Twins player Trevor Plouffe, who now hosts the Talkin’ Baseball Podcast with the widely popular Jomboy, shared the following:
Let’s begin by making it perfectly clear that as I write this, the above information is nothing more than a rumor from one person. Plouffe never says anything about a decision being reached or even being near for that matter. It’s merely just talk and should be treated as such, for now. We’re also unsure who Plouffe’s sources are, but the fact that he’s played eight years in the majors and may know people here and there with knowledge of the situation is what makes this so interesting. The timeline he details in the tweet also seems to line up with the rumors that other media members, like Bob Nightengale, have written about already.
Shifting over to the plan that was proposed, something like this has many aspects to it that will need to be settled before anything can get going. For instance, health officials will first need to give the thumbs up before any play can begin, which will likely depend on the current situation not only in areas where games would be played but across the country. The league and officials are not going to allow for a plan that will put more people in harm’s way and spread the virus even further. On top of those concerns, there are a lot of other factors that contribute to making this dream become reality. With a timeline like the one Plouffe alleges to be true, the league will likely need to start acting very soon in order for Spring Training to resume five weeks from now, and a season to begin a month after that.
The biggest challenge of all with a plan like this is still determining what a schedule could look like and how modified divisions and postseason would work. I would also guess that teams may be required to play a portion of the games at their Spring Training facilities if officials don’t give the okay to play at home stadiums right away. There are just so many questions about how the season would be played as a whole that leaves this plan to appear more ambitious than realistic, though hopefully I am proven wrong and the league provides further updates in the not-so-distant future.
In the meantime, be sure to follow us on social media @SoxOn35th for any further updates since this surely won’t be the last of any rumors we hear.
Featured Photo: Chris Tejeda
