Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Baseball is back with masks, empty parks
A baseball season that was on the brink before it ever began because of the virus outbreak is set to start tonight when excitable Max Scherzer and the World Series champion Washington Nationals host prized ace Gerrit Cole and the New York Yankees.
When it does get underway — the DC forecast calls for thunderstorms, the latest rocky inning in this whatcan-go-wrong game — it’ll mark the most bizarre year in the history of Major League Baseball.
A 60-game season, stars opting out. Ballparks without fans, players wearing masks. Piped-in sound effects, cardboard cutouts for spectators. Spray-painted ads on the mound, pitchers with personal rosin bags.
And a rack of strange rules: DHs in the National League and an automatic runner on second to start the 10th inning.
“Gosh, it’s going to be fun,” Cole said. “It’s going to have fake crowd noise, and going to be 2020 coronavirus baseball.”
Plus, a poignant reminder of the world we live in. A Black Lives Matter stencil can be put on mounds throughout the majors during the opening weekend.
And still there’s a team that doesn’t know where it’s going to play — barred from Toronto because of health concerns, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Blue Jays had hoped to roost in Pittsburgh or Baltimore or Buffalo or somewhere else.
“This is 2020 baseball,” Scherzer said.
To many fans, that will do. No other choice, really. Four months after the games were supposed to start, strange ball is better than no ball, right?
Opening Day brings a tasty doubleheader: A marquee pitching matchup in Washington, followed by the nightcap at Dodger Stadium when star outfielder Mookie Betts, fresh off a $365 million, 12-year contract, and his new Los Angeles teammates take on the San Francisco Giants.
One player Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw won’t face: six-time All-Star, three-time champion and former MVP Buster Posey. The Giants catcher and his wife have adopted twin identical girls who were prematurely born, and he’s among about a dozen players who have chosen to sit out this year.
“From a baseball standpoint, it was a tough decision for me,” Posey said. “From a family standpoint, making a decision to protect children, our children, it was relatively easy.”
Dodgers pitcher David Price, Washington infielder Ryan Zimmerman and Atlanta outfielder Nick Markakis also are sitting out.
Other players won’t be ready by the weekend — on Wednesday, the Royals announced Hunter Dozier (26 home runs, 10 triples) had tested positive for the virus and was being put on the injured list.
For those are who healthy, it’s time to play. For how long, with the virus looming, we’ll find out soon enough.
And remember, this is a sprint. Earlier suggestions for an expanded playoff field were scrapped, creating a scramble for the 10 coveted spots headed toward October.
Elsewhere around the bases this year:
SOCIAL JUSTICE
MLB players traditionally haven’t been as outspoken as those in the NFL and NBA on social issues. Until this year, former Oakland catcher Bruce Maxwell was the only baseball player to take a knee before the national anthem — he did that in 2017 and felt it cost him a future spot in the majors.
New Giants Manager Gabe Kapler and several of his players knelt during the national anthem before an exhibition game this week. A group of Reds did the same in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
“I wanted them to know that I wasn’t pleased with the way our country has handled police brutality and I told them I wanted to amplify their voices and I wanted to amplify the voice of the Black community and marginalized communities as well,” said Kapler, among 10 managers starting new jobs.
Said Yankees star Aaron Judge: “That’s the beauty of America, is freedom of speech and freedom to express yourself.”
BOO WHO?
All those hoots and hisses the Houston Astros heard in March, they’re gone now. Some fans will claim the guys who took part in that sign-stealing scam are getting off easy, not feeling the wrath of crowds on the road.
MLB has issued stern warnings against any basebrawling this year. Even so, some Houston hitters might feel a little retribution — Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman and George Springer all got hit by pitches Tuesday night in Kansas City during the Astros’ final tuneup.