CHICAGO — Major League Baseball is considering playing the delayed 2020 season in empty stadiums in Arizona, using the 10 spring training ballparks in the Phoenix area and Chase Field as the venues.
Details of this plan haven’t been revealed, but according to various outlets including The Athletic, ESPN and the Associated Press, the idea is to begin in May or June, sequester teams in hotels for 4½ months without their families and even play seven-inning doubleheaders to get more games in.
MLB said in a statement Tuesday it is has “not settled on that option or developed a detailed plan,” though someone must have leaked the idea of the Arizona Plan to gauge fan reaction.
It’s easy to see why they did so. People are getting antsy for their sports, and the return of baseball would be a soothing balm to a country dealing with the depressing daily updates of the coronavirus pandemic.
More importantly, it would give us something to watch on TV instead of reruns of classic games.
“It allows for immediacy of a schedule, where you might be able to begin it and televise it, provide Major League Baseball to America,” agent Scott Boras told AP. “Think players are willing to do what’s necessary because I think they understand the importance of baseball for their own livelihoods and for the interest of our country and providing a necessary product that gives all the people that are isolated enjoyment.”
Boras added the plan gives the players “a sense of a return to some normalcy,” and that psychologists would say “it’s really good for a culture to have sport and to have a focus like that, where for a few hours a day they can take their minds off the difficult reality of the virus.”
It’s hard to dispute that, though Boras forgot to mention anything about players wanting to receive their regular paychecks.
Who knows if the Arizona plan is just being floated or will soon become reality?
But the only way to properly respond to this idea is Facebook-style, meaning it’s quiz time, everyone.
For those who still aren’t on Facebook, I salute you for your self-restraint.
For the rest of those who are on Facebook, you’re probably aware your news feed recently has been infested with quizzes where someone posts a list of 10 things and makes you guess which one doesn’t belong.
So here are nine reasons why the Arizona plan would not work, and one reason why it could. (Guess which one is the reason it could.)
1. It’s 110 degrees in the summer in Phoenix.
Like Chicago in January, no one goes outside. Every game would be played under conditions that would sap a player’s strength on a daily basis. Starting pitchers would average four innings. And since many spring training clubhouses are a long walk from the playing field, the players would not be able to enjoy an air conditioning break between innings.
