Pondering baseball’s COVID-19 pandemic workaround as a permanent solution

the sports industry and others like it navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, every proposed solution inevitably inspires a slew of follow-up questions. The first: Can it work?

And often, the second: If it works too well, might we see a permanent change?

We bring this up as Major League Baseball lost its first full month of games – adios, April – while working on several contingency plans to play a season, any season, before 2020 slips away into the winter.

The most recent plan to emerge would place 10 teams each in East, Central and West divisions, largely based on their current positionings. As a temporary fix, it’s a nice hedge between the so-called “biodome” option and business as usual, the former rife with logistic and humanistic problems and the latter not conducive to a season where many games must be played in a narrow time frame and not every market may be fully open for business.

As a multi-year, or even permanent fix? There’s a lot to like.

Sure, this would likely mean the implosion of the American and National Leagues, but let’s be honest: Blurring and then erasing the lines between both circuits has been a pet project for MLB going on three decades, starting with the centralization of power away from league presidents, to interleague play, to integrating umpires throughout both leagues, and so on.

The Three-Division Plan would, however, maintain and enhance the value of winning a division, a concept now more than half a century old. In the short term, to cut down on travel, it would create an entirely unbalanced schedule: Games only against divisional opponents, in the name of expediency.

And this unbalanced schedule would hold appeal beyond the current format.

Let’s say the many, many health and safety hurdles are sufficiently mitigated and MLB threads the needle and gets in a 2020 season of around 100 games. Come April 2021, it’s highly likely the COVID19 pandemic will still significantly curtail everyday life; at the very least, a vaccine almost certainly won’t be available.

MLB would be extremely fortunate to stage games with just limited capacity for fans, who would remain aggressively distanced. There’s a decent chance many markets would still require empty stadiums.

That means, across 2020-21, close to 200 baseball games that might be TV-only propositions or staged before a fan base leery of public congregation. While this format would eliminate cross-country battles with some luster (Yankees-Astros, say), it would create many more appealing games.

More “natural” rivalries: Cubs-White Sox, Yankees-Mets, Dodgers-Angels, Reds-Indians, Royals-Cardinals, GiantsA’s and Nationals-Orioles would be frequent and often quite meaningful intra-division matchups.

More regional rivalries: Phillies-Pirates, Phillies-Orioles, Padres-Angels, Cubs-Indians and Mets-Red Sox are all proximate and some even have a nice layer of history beneath them.

Above all, the alignments and the extra divisional games would ensure many more broadcasts that start at a decent local hour, avoiding the 4 or 5 p.m. starts on the West Coast or the 10 p.m. first pitches back east.

It’s not perfect, of course, and protests would be lodged. The Pirates and Braves, most notably, could make cases for flip-flopping the East and Central, which would kill Pirates-Phillies but create a bus-friendly Lake Erie shootout for the Pirates and Indians. The Braves’ lone

“regional” rival in the Central would be some 550 miles away in St. Louis; a move to the East would only retain current divisional rivals.

And the Mariners, Rockies, Astros and Rangers are a tough fit in almost any alignment, given their relative isolation. The Texas teams would be saddled with that many more 9 p.m. TV starts, what with seven division rivals two time zones away.

But for a pandemic workaround? That’s not so bad. As a permanent fix? If fans and players get a chance to try it, they may very well like it. (USA Today/TNS)

Orioles teammates surprise Mancini on video call

Baltimore Orioles teammates had a special surprise ready Saturday to show support for teammate Trey Mancini, who is battling Stage 3 colon cancer and is not expected to play again until 2021.

As shown on the Orioles’ Twitter account, the team held a group video call, with players and coaches all holding up signs to the camera reading “#F16HT.” Mancini, who can be seen with a wide smile in the video call, wears No. 16.

At least 50 team members were on the call, including manager Brandon Hyde and infielders Chris Davis and Hanser Alberto.

In an essay for The Players’ Tribune published Tuesday, Mancini discussed the extent of his cancer and chemotherapy treatments. Stage 4 is the most severe level.

The cancer was discovered in spring training following a team physical and follow-up tests when Mancini’s iron was too low. He had surgery to remove a tumor on March 12, the same day that MLB spring training was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Mancini, who turned 28 on March 18, was the Orioles’ most productive player last season. He batted .291 with 175 hits, including 38 doubles and 35 home runs, and 97 RBIs in 154 games.

The Orioles selected Mancini, a Florida native, in the eighth round of the 2013 draft. After a brief call-up in 2016, he became a fixture with the club in 2017. He has a career batting average of .276 in 462 games with 86 home runs and 238 RBIs. (Reuters)