Major-league players allowed to return home
PHOENIX - Major-league baseball players were given permission Friday to return to their homes from their respective spring training sites, a strong indication that the start of the 2020 regular season will be delayed longer than the original announcement of at least two weeks because of the spread of coronavirus.
After an in-person meeting between Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association in Arizona, players were informed they had these three choices:
1. Stay where your spring training is conducted and continue to work with local staff, including athletic trainers and strength/conditioning coaches.
2. Return to your offseason homes and do personal training on your own.
3. Go to the city where your team plays and work out there under that team’s supervision.
A release from MLB said the step was being taken “in the best interests of players, employees and the communities who host spring training.”
That release went on to say: “MLB will continue to monitor ongoing events and undertake the precautions and best practices recommended by public health experts. We send our best wishes to all individuals and communities who have been impacted by coronavirus.”
According to word that spread on social media, players were taking advantage of all three choices. There were reports that some players would stay at the spring training sites, where the facilities and staff are better prepared. Others made plans to head home.
The New York Yankees were reported to be staying mostly intact at their training site in Tampa, Fla.
Other teams, such as the Arizona Diamondbacks, will stay in camp for obvious reasons.
Many Brewers players live in the Phoenix area, making their choices easy: They could remain at their personal homes while also taking advantage of the team’s fantastic training/medical facility at American Family Fields of Phoenix, which was expanded and renovated before spring 2019 at a cost of more than $60 million.
Whatever choice a player made, it came with this caveat: There is no way to know when spring training might resume. The very fact that players were allowed to go home suggested there were expectations of a considerable delay before camps reopened.
With the original opening day scheduled for March 26 – for the Brewers, at Miller Park against the Chicago Cubs – it has become apparent the delay in beginning the season will stretch beyond two weeks. Some familiar with the talks suggested a May 1 start date, at the earliest. Others speculated it could be pushed back to the Memorial Day weekend.
There were also reports that MLB hopes to still hold a 162-game season, with the postponed games added to the back of the schedule or possible off days. If the delay goes beyond two weeks, however, such a maneuver could lead to a Thanksgiving World Series, which would be problematic to say the least unless played at predetermined sites with roofs.
The situation will remain fluid as the coronavirus situation plays out in the United States. President Donald Trump declared a national emergency earlier in the day, freeing up federal funds to help battle spread of the virus. Much of the response will be determined on a state-to-state basis, however, such as in hard-hit Washington, which already had led to cancellation of some home games of the Seattle Mariners.
The delay of the 2020 season was officially announced Thursday by MLB, including immediate suspension of exhibition games, an action “being taken in the interests of the safety and well-being of our players, clubs and our millions of loyal fans.” Many sports began suspending play after NBA player Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz tested positive for the coronavirus.
That announcement said, “MLB will announce the effects on the schedule at an appropriate time and will remain flexible as events warrant, with the hope of resuming normal operations as soon as possible.
“Nothing is more important to us than the health and safety of our players, employees and fans. MLB will continue to undertake the precautions and best practices recommended by public health experts. We send our best wishes to all individuals and communities that have been impacted by coronavirus.”
With a situation so fluid, there remain more answers than questions, such as: When the major-league season does begin, will it begin from the scheduled start, or just pick up the schedule on the day the first games are played? If it becomes untenable to make up all of the postponed games, thus canceling them, it could lead to many inequities in the play of division rivals, depending on who was playing who in April.
Should all April games be canceled, for example, the Brewers would not play the New York Mets or Philadelphia Phillies in 2020 because all of their meetings – home and away – are scheduled during the opening month.
The Brewers held an optional workout Friday morning at their training complex but it was not known how many players attended. No media members were allowed in the practice facility at the end of a week in which they also were denied access to clubhouses.
Before the decision was made to allow players to return home, the Brewers had scheduled a regular workout for Monday but that was called off.