SPORTS CHAT HIGHLIGHTS

Highlights from Paul Zeise’s Thursday sports chat, which you can join weekly at post-gazette.com. Questions and answers have been edited for clarity:

Buster: I’m betting that after they try it for a few weeks they figure out that professional sports just aren’t going to work this year and there will be no NFL season. Thoughts?

Zeise: A lot of people are predicting that — but I say how can they play soccer in Italy, baseball in Korea, Taiwan and Japan and rugby in several other countries?

Stephen: Have you heard if the Pirates have any interest in signing (Yasiel) Puig? I think his arm is needed in right field.

Zeise: I would have a hard time believing they would sign him in a year when they were trying to shed payroll, unless he is going to play for peanuts.

GPT: Even without fans being present, I just don’t see how sports are going to start back up. As soon as teams started congregating, like the Phillies in baseball or the Lightning in hockey, there were positive COVID cases reported. Do you really think we’ll see pro sports by the end of July?

Zeise: I don’t know why anyone is surprised that the teams showing up at facilities and aggressively testing is leading to some positive cases. That’s the whole point of testing and the whole point of what we are doing. I do think we will.

John Strange: Will the Penguins make it to the Stanley Cup final? Which team is their biggest obstacle?

Zeise: I think Boston and Tampa are the two best teams in the East and it will be one of those two teams that emerge from the East.

Donna: Are Steven Brault and Chad Kuhl ready to pitch and if so, what will their roles be?

Zeise: I think both will be ready to go. Brault will be a starter and I think Kuhl will either be a bullpen guy or an “opener,” which Derek Shelton has talked about using some.

Mercury: Do you have the same opinion about the Astros’ cheating that you do about the Patriots’?

Zeise: Yes I do. They still had to hit and make plays in the field and they still had to execute pitches. And sign stealing has been a part of baseball as long as there has been baseball.