MLB players want to play, association exec says
League has yet to formally propose scenarios to get 2020 baseball season underway: Clark
MLB Players Association executive director Tony Clark said the message he has received from players is they want to play in 2020, but they have yet to see a firm plan from Major League Baseball.
Clark shared his views of how baseball is addressing its situation with respect to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic during an interview Tuesday with ESPN’S Marly Rivera.
“We want to play. As players, we want to play,” Clark said. “As these ideas find their way into mainstream media, there are some ideas that seem to make sense; there are others that don’t track very well. All of them are being viewed against the backdrop of getting back on the field and affording our guys an opportunity to do what they love to do.”
Multiple ideas have been mentioned over the past few weeks, however Clark cautioned that none of them has been formally presented to the players by the owners or Major League Baseball.
“Despite all that has been floated and all the rhetoric that is out there, we have not received anything formal that details an actual plan,” Clark said.
The Athletic writer Ken Rosenthal reported last month that MLB could hold a rescheduled Opening Day between mid-june and July 4 and play at least 80 games this season. He also cited sources in his report as saying the league “could open in 10 to 12 states, or in as many as 20 home parks.”
ESPN’S Jeff Passan reported another option last month in which all 30 teams would be stationed in Arizona, with Chase Field, spring training complexes and college stadiums serving as sites for as many as 15 games per day.
The regular baseball season had been scheduled to start March 26, but was delayed indefinitely because of the coronavirus pandemic.