PADRES READY TO FLY FROM COCOON

Their first road trip of season will offer some new challenges

For more than three weeks, the Padres have hunkered down in the socalled bubble they’ve erected at and around Petco Park and at their secondary site at USD. Some had shifted their lives to San Diego well before that, preparing for a new normal, whatever that was going to look like.

Now more uncharted territory arrives today with the conclusion of the season-opening homestand: venturing outside their cocoon for the first road trip of this Covid-19-shortened season, a six-game jaunt to play San Francisco and Colorado.

The challenges are even taller than those they’re learning to navigate at home.

The road map follows the same principles.

“I’m just ready for whatever protocol we need to adapt to,” shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. said. “Meanwhile, we’re playing baseball. I think we’re going to be just fine.”

Major League Baseball is certainly going to great lengths to ensure just that.

An entire section of this season’s 100-plus-page operating manual is dedicated to travel, both to and from home ballparks and road trips that, for the Padres, will be as long as 10 days.

That trip, from Aug. 28Sept. 6, will take the Padres through Colorado, Anaheim and Oakland. Two weeks before, they’ll hit Los Angeles, Arizona and Texas.

The Padres hope the accountability to each other that has guided them through the early days of this restart will serve them well.

“We’re going to do everything we can as a team to control what we can control and that’s self-isolating and making sure we’re keeping ourselves healthy as well as looking out for Kirby (Yates) and his wife and kids,” Padres right-hander Chris Paddack said. “It’s not just us at the end of the day. We’ve agreed to that as a group. If we want to make it to October baseball, it’s, ‘How disciplined can we be for three months?’

“As a challenging as that’s going to be — because nobody likes being locked up inside — that’s what it’s going to take.”

The challenge, of course, will be daunting, beginning with the bus ride to catch that first flight.

First of all, social-distancing guidelines require the Padres to use three buses for each commute this year, instead of two, to ensure each player has an empty seat beside him. Without Fox Sports San Diego’s crew on the road, the Padres’ traveling party has shrunk from 70-72 to 60-65. The Padres will still need to use larger planes this year to provide as many empty seats or rows as possible.

The temperature checks now standard upon arriving at ballparks will also be administered before boarding buses and planes, as well as entering the team hotel. Each player will also be given a bag filled with face coverings — which must be worn while traveling with the team — plus gloves, hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes. There will also be limited food and beverage services, which may not be that noticeable outside of trips to Colorado, Texas and Seattle. Players are also expected to remain in their seats unless they are using the restroom.

The restrictions don’t ease up much at all once checked into the hotel. Members of the traveling party are asked to avoid leaving for non-essential purposes and are not permitted to leave the hotel to eat or use any restaurants open to the public. Instead, hotels must provide a dedicated dining area in a private location within. Room service is OK, as are mealdelivery services like Uber Eats and Postmates. The pool and fitness centers are off-limits unless hotels guarantee the team exclusive access, while visitors are limited to significant others and children.

Members of the traveling party must also stay at the team hotel even in places like Arizona, where many players make their offseason home. They are also barred from using public transportation to and from the ballpark, although teams can grant permission for rideshare commutes.

Perhaps just as tough is discouraging socializing with other players’ family and friends while on the road. If they do, mask on and keep your distance — just like at home.

“We all have to continue to stay disciplined,” Padres manager Jayce Tingler said, “on what we’re doing away from the field.”