After a wonderfully horrid two months of watching coronavirus news infest its way into our lives and our sports, we may be nearing the coroner corner.
According to Bob Nightengale, MLB officials are “cautiously optimistic” on a baseball season beginning in late June, playing at least 100 regular season games (contingent on more accessible COVID-19 testing).
Among the highlights of the plan:
- Baseball would be played in the same major league stadiums without fans, eliminating the need for players to isolate from their families.
- Divisions would be aligned geographically (Western, Central, Eastern) with 10 teams in each, eliminating the AL and NL for the season.
- Nightengale mentions that financial implications of games would have to be settled on “a sliding scale depending on the loss of revenue from gate receipts, parking and concessions” between teams and players.
The Angels would be in a division with the Dodgers, Giants, Athletics, Padres, Mariners, Diamondbacks, Rockies, Rangers, and Astros, a more balanced division than as the AL West currently stands.
Many details are still yet to be worked out, but there will be a baseball season. And for that, I am thankful.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
I hope we can go to live games this season. I will like watching on tv but it doesn’t quite have the excitement of being at the stadium.
I just want to see baseball! I’ve been reduced to watching highlights of the 1946 and 1949 World Series….which are great, of course, but I want some Trout, Shohei, Fletch, J-Up, Albert, Rendon (!), 2020 highlights.
Yeah, hopefully everything cycles around and by September or October, a limited number of fans can start filing into seats
I desperately want this MLB West Division to happen. Angels beating the Dodgers constantly would make me happy. We always play them tough, even in our lean years.
Playoffs:
Division winner plus second place is six teams.
Add the two best records after that.
Seed where 1 plays 8, 2-7, 3-6, 4-5, Make it a best of seven though.
Then highest plays lowest and second highest plays second lowest – winner of each equals boom – An Angels-Dodgers World Series.
I have the feeling MLB is gonna use this chance to experiment with the 14 team playoff idea they floated awhile back.
We’d share a division with likely the 2 best overall teams in baseball, Houston and LA. Placing third would be difficult but not impossible. That said the West seems like the deepest division. Our bad teams are Seattle, San Diego, and Colorado which are more meh than awful.
East gets to beat up on Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Toronto and Miami.
Central is pretty balanced, too but Kansas City and Detroit are horrid.
My thought as well, but still easier than the AL West would have been.
True, one of the pitfalls that I see that can’t be worked around is the fact that the MLB West would cover three time zones. None of the other divisions would. Probably not a major disadvantage although travel from Seattle to Houston (2,ooo+ miles) is drastically different than any trip in any other division. With two teams in Texas, the MLB West would rack up far more travel hours than the rest of the league….competitive disadvantage?
Baltimore is horrible, and the Marlins are real bad, but Toronto is an improving team with a lot of young talent on the rise. I think the Jays are slot better than the Giants, for instance.
But yeah, we kinda get the shaft going up against the Astros AND the Dodgers.
Unfortunately for us Rev. this plan would be lethal for the Angels. The Dodgers and Astros would have to be big favorites to win the West (one of them would almost surely take it, with the other finishing second). This would leave the A’s and Angels out in the cold. I don’t like it.
The playoffs should be set up based upon records, with the Wild Cards being arranged by record, best division winner plays worst WC etc..
If they do, PLEASE have the field microphones turned waaaay up. I can wait to hear the trash talk between players, and the barking at the umps from the dugout.
Yeah, this would be the best part!! I’d love to hear kiiiid trash talking, it’d be hilarious.
Nice. I’ve been saying 4th of July weekend for a while now. Perfect marketing to bring America’s game back on America’s birthday weekend.
This plan works out much better for the players. You can’t expect guys to spend months on end away from their families. Trout is going become a father in August, for example, and you just can’t miss that.
Yes, I realize military personnel do spend months away and I have the utmost respect for them. But in reality, millionaires represented by a union will have quality of life considerations our men and women in uniform don’t/can’t have.
Agree. Military personnel are signing up to be away from their families with no timetable to return. MLB players and pro athletes, not so much.
This is gonna be a weird season. But whatever, LET’S DO IT!