Could coronavirus spike threaten MLB plans to play?
The negotiations for a 2020 MLB season have stopped and turned into a full-blown war of words, but all signs point to there being baseball games this summer.
Well, maybe not one sign. A potentially enormous stop sign.
Coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are on the rise in Texas, California, Arizona and Washington, four of the five states where the Texas Rangers would play in a 2020 MLB season.
The same is happening in Florida, home to the Tampa Bay Rays and Miami Marlins and where teams in northern hot zones would conduct spring training and initially host regular-season games. Arizona could also be the spring and early season home for the five California teams and Seattle, and, of course, is home to the Diamondbacks.
Of the West division states in the American League and National
League, only Colorado has not seen an increase in cases as states reopen their economies from mandatory shelter-in-place ordinances and in the wake of mass protests in major U.S. cities after the death of George Floyd.
While the players and owners can’t resolve the financial differences, they were resolute at the beginning of negotiations that safety was the No. 1 priority. The sides are close on agreeing to health protocols for a season, but haven’t crossed the finish line.
Spring training was canceled and the season was postponed indefinitely in March after President Trump declared a national emergency amid the worldwide coronavirus pandemic. More than 115,000 Americans have died because of COVID-19, most of them elderly or with underlying health conditions.
While ballplayers are young and fit, some have underlying conditions and are likely to be given the chance to opt out of playing this season. Rangers right-hander Kyle Gibson, who has been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, is one of them.
Also, some umpires and club personnel are though to be at higher risk.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, a pandemic adviser to the White House and the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the recent uptick in COVID-19 cases isn’t necessarily the dreaded second wave. The second COVID-19 wave, he said, could be avoided with proper protocols.