Champs don’t deserve asterisk
It’s either an act of great perseverance and strength, or one of utter arrogance and naivety.
Friday night, the Red Sox will begin their 2020 season and a quest to win a World Series title that many will mock. Winning it all in a 60-game season in which 16 teams make the playoffs, 30-man rosters are employed and a runner starts on second base during extra innings will be an accomplishment deserving of an asterisk, they’ll say.
It’s fake baseball. It doesn’t really count. As 30 teams begin the quest to win it all (and spend the next six months defending the gravity of their accomplishment), let’s take a moment to acknowledge what we’re doing.
Anyone putting an asterisk on the 2020 MLB season, or any professional sports season this year, can take that asterisk and put it you-know-where (on a post-2004 Barry Bonds home run ball, of course).
That we even have an Opening Day game to watch is a low-key miracle. That thousands of players, coaches, front office executives, grounds crew workers, cooks, cleaners and other necessary employees have been risking their health to come to the ballpark at the mere hope of baseball being played is something to behold.
We’re doing this damn thing. Whether we should be doing it or not, we’re doing it. We’re really doing it.
But not without questions. Thursday morning, just as the World Series champion Washington Nationals were set to begin their title defense by facing the World Series favorite New York Yankees to kick off the season, the Nats learned that their best player, Juan Soto, had tested positive for the coronavirus.
And not only did he test positive, but he’d been playing baseball for at least two days before learning of the test results.
Four months ago, the NBA postponed its entire season upon learning that a player tested positive for the coronavirus.
Four months later, an MLB player tests positive after he’d certainly been in contact with teammates and coaches for days, and the games continue.
We know more about the virus now, to be sure. We know that players like Red Sox lefty Eduardo Rodriguez are trying to come back from it, have tested negative several times after beating the virus, and are still feeling physical effects. They’re fatigued. Their bodies are tired. They aren’t recovering the way they should. This according to team doctors.
We know that as of Thursday there are 145,000 deaths and counting in the U.S.
We know that the disease may not kill all it touches, but is proving to come with longterm effects, some that will increase morbidity and create difficult circumstances for those who suffer from it.
We know, and we ignore. Baseball is to be played.
Red Sox president Sam Kennedy defended MLB’s decision to go forth with a season, saying that the Red Sox are a business that needs to pay its employees and must continue. Kennedy is hoping Fenway Park will host fans at some point this year.
Players are putting their health at risk, and doing so with the knowledge that if they don’t, they could find it difficult to work again in this game. Of the players to opt out of the season, all of them but one, Michael Kopech of the White Sox, are veterans who have made significant money during their careers.
The need to move forward, to show strength, to persevere and to entertain is motivating them.
Many will go without seeing their families for four months or longer. Some will leave mid-season to be with their wives for the births of their children. Others will drop out due to health and safety concerns. Some may be hospitalized due to COVID-19. The games will likely continue.
Red Sox star J.D. Martinez said it best this month, when he described the 2020 season as a test of will to stay healthy. The best team may not win, but the team that has the least number of star players who catch the coronavirus should be the last one standing, Martinez predicted.
Put an asterisk on the season. Go ahead. The asterisk is yours to defend.
Those trying to play amidst the circumstances feel nothing cheap about what they’re doing. They feel a sense of pride in it. They’re appreciating the game every minute they’re on the field. They’re showing greater respect for one another, many wearing masks and others taking a knee before the game to show solidarity with their Black brothers.
They’re fighting not only to win games, but to keep the game alive.
Baseball is back. For better or worse. We might as well enjoy it.