NO SHORTCUTS WHEN OPENING DAY FINALLY ARRIVES
Jays GM advocates exceptional creativity, open-mindedness in reshaping 2020 season
As frivolous as it may be to even think of such scenarios right now, if you play, work in, or just love baseball, Thursday was going to be a special day.
Hyun-Jin Ryu was to take the mound as the Opening Day starter, making his debut for a young and exciting Toronto Blue Jays team in front of a Rogers Centre crowd brimming with renewed hope.
And most of all, the return of a rite of spring and summer, a pastime that’s become such a soundtrack and screenplay of what used to be our normal lives.
None of that is lost on Jays GM Ross Atkins, of course, and you could sense the underlying disappointment in his voice on Wednesday, the tone acknowledging the dome will be dark and empty, the celebratory bunting still in storage, and Jays players will still be scattered across North America.
Baseball isn’t back and is nowhere near returning.
Atkins certainly has some thoughts on what might have to happen to salvage a semblance of a season, should the COVID-19 pandemic mercifully reach the swing and miss stage, but the Jays’ GM is well aware of its diminished relegation among world priorities.
When it gets to that point of return, though, baseball will have decisions to make and a flotilla of logistical concerns to wade through.
“Believe me, we can’t wait for the moment that the games return, but for now there really are no shortcuts,” Atkins said during a Wednesday conference call with reporters. “I believe players thrive on adrenalin, and the adrenalin they get from competition is not something they’re going to have for some time.
“It’s a big part of their lives, and at this time of the year, they certainly would have been having that with Opening Day being (on Thursday.)”
In between almost daily checkups on players throughout the
Jays organization, Atkins and his front office staff have pondered any number and all manner of logistics relating to a season that is still in the “if and when” stage. Of course, even the most eternal of optimists would have trouble envisioning a season starting before the middle of May, and most would be elated at the prospect of a 162-game season reduced to 100.
With that in mind, no one in the sport will pretend to know what the 2020 campaign will look like. Merely as a hypothetical for instance, Atkins tossed out the notion of seven-inning games as a part of doubleheaders, a model used at the minor-league level.
“To me, this will be a time that requires exceptional creativity and a lot of open-mindedness, and it seems as though Major League Baseball is thinking of it that way and thinking of potential solutions, and a way to provide this game to our fans as much and as soon as possible,” Atkins said. “I don’t think we should do it as soon as possible without being safe. It needs to be safe.”
Yes, safety first, but plenty of potential fallout after that.
Baseball people have been wrestling with various scenarios for a restart, including picking up the schedule as it has already been slotted. While that could create pockets of competitive imbalance, the logistics of re-securing stadiums around the league could be hugely problematic and near impossible. While the idea of seven-inning games is just one that Atkins mused about, he admitted it’s not without flaws and concerns. Baseball is heavy on tradition, after all, and almost any novel initiative will be met with skepticism from traditionalists.
“You’re not playing the game that’s written in the rule books, not the regulation game,” Atkins said, addressing such concerns. “Bullpens and teams are built in a way to play nine innings, so I’m sure there are people that would challenge that, and I’m not sure it’s something we should do.”
As baseball wrestles through possible scenarios, should we be so fortunate, diverging business interests most assuredly will come into play. Unlike the NHL and NBA, who have played the majority of their seasons, MLB will be working from a blank template.
“Decreasing the number of games isn’t just about record books,” Atkins said. “It’s so much more complicated than that because of compensation reasons, because of how rosters are built, and the resources that were poured into the planning to get to where we are today.
“It’s not just as simple as ‘OK, we have this number of days, let’s play this number of games and call it a year.’ There are so many variables that need to be factored in. But at the same time, we can’t just dismiss ideas. That would be the biggest mistake that we (could) make as an industry.”
Whenever the time comes to craft a 2020 season that will forever have a place in the game’s history, Atkins said it’s critical that many voices and opinions are heard.
“I think the best thing that we could do is get all of those ideas into one place and not just mine,” Atkins said. “It’s not going to be my idea, or your idea, or any one individual’s idea that ends up ensuring that we can maximize, do the best with this circumstance.”
Most of all, Atkins would be among the first to admit, just having the chance to talk about Opening Day 2.0 is something all in the game would cherish.