CONTINGENCY PLANS, DISCUSSIONS ARE UNDER WAY

Source: CBS Sports

A shortened season has drastic impacts on all parts of MLB including the teams, the players, the employees and the ball parks.  Beside impacting the ball park employees and businesses around the stadiums, it is causing minor league players to take other jobs, ones that put them at risk of contracting COVID-19.  As the pandemic continues to soar through our country, MLB makes contingency plans which can favor sleeper teams to reach the post season and players who have been bitten by the injury bug.

"Officially, Major League Baseball has not yet abandoned the hope of playing a 162-game schedule. Unofficially, that possibility all but evaporated when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended no gatherings of 50 or more people for the next eight weeks. That recommendation carries through May 10 (and could be extended based on the trajectory of the coronavirus spread)," reported Sports Illustrated.

Steve Azul and I hashed out some of our thoughts about the shortened season and how that would impact the Yankees and the inequities it could cause on the BleedBlue podcast on Monday night.  You can listen to our banter here. The Cliff Notes version looks like this:

1. Two or three weeks of games lost to the coronavirus could be tacked on to the end of the schedule

2. Postseason extending into November

3. Tighter races with sleeper teams such as Tampa Bay as the key disrupter

4. National League will be even more competitive particularly in the East

5. More double headers

6. More time for our players to heal- Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and James Paxton

Source: NJ.com

I was happy to see that Sport Illustrated had these on their list of contingency plans as well.  Other drastic measures that baseball faces is the loss of revenue not just in tickets but in merchandise and concessions, including the remaining days of spring training.  Does spring training continue but at their home fields with split squads and local play with teams in the region, National and American Leagues, avoiding planes and longer travel?  Maybe, but these will still not make up for the loss of revenue and momentum.

Baseball was already facing a public relations nightmare with the Houston Astros debacle, now the novel coronavirus is disrupting life even further.  Let's hope for a May start of the season knowing that June could be the reality.  Baseball will be back, we just have to wait this out.

--Suzie Pinstripe
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @Suzieprof