Play Ball?

Slowly, like slumbering giants, the major sports are gearing up for a return. The NBA and NHL have made plans for their playoffs. Baseball, which never got started, is also set for a return at the end of this month, as teams are in "spring" training right now. In April, I missed baseball, but I have to wonder now if it's worth coming back at all.

MLB has cooked up a sixty-game schedule. There is no realignment or change in the playoff structure (one interesting scenario had the 30 teams splitting into three geographic reasons, playing only each other, to cut down on travel). Sixty games is extremely short, and one wonders if it's much too little too late.

On the other hand, I may get caught up in what should be a mad scramble. It's impossible to predict who will come out on top here, given the shortness of the season and the fact that many star players, including Ryan Zimmerman, David Price, and Felix Hernandez, are opting out of playing. Unlike any other year, every team has a shot. Of course, there will be a huge asterisk on the winner of this fall's World Series.

But it just seems unseemly. Games will be played without fans in attendance, which seems to me to defeat the whole purpose of sporting events. If a tree falls, does it make a sound, and if there's no one in attendance, was the game really played? Of course, these games will be televised, where the league and the owners will make their money (all money this year should be donated to COVID-19 charities).

One thing is for sure--a team will have to get off to a fast start. Slow out of the gate ends the season quickly. Last year Washington got off to a pitiful start, but righted the ship and won it all. A team will not be able to do that this year.

So check back with me in early August to see if I'm on board with this set-up. That's if there isn't a rash of players testing positive, which may doom the whole enterprise.