TRYING NOT TO LOSE HOPE FOR 2020

As I continue to watch reruns of old baseball games and get hooked new series and movies I would never have considered, I am trying not to lose hope for 2020. No one expected the coronavirus to strip away the rest of spring training.  And all of us, fans and players alike, are looking toward the future.  While we wait for the smells and sounds of the ballpark, here are some nuggets of others who have been impacted by the abrupt halt of the start of the season.

Source: The New York Post

Yankees minor leaguer and last year first round draft pick from New Jersey, Anthony Volpe, "was in the middle of his first professional spring training last month when Yankees minor leaguers were quarantined after a player tested positive for the coronavirus," reported The New York Post. Volpe was hoping to make up for lost time this spring after being sidelined with mononucleosis last year.  Now he's staying safe and healthy and working out in his backyard back at home in Watchung, NJ.

Source: NJ.com

"At this time a year ago, Volpe was a key cog for Delbarton, which won New Jersey’s Non-Public A state title. It was a team that included pitcher Jack Leiter, the son of former big league pitcher Al Leiter. The Yankees drafted Jack in the 20th round last year, but he went to Vanderbilt," reported The New York Post.

Jack Leiter is another young player who has been impacted by the pause of the season.  He and his team, Vanderbilt University Commodores, were set to defend their collegiate world series championship this season when things came to an abrupt end.  Coach Tim Corbin is trying to help his team stay positive and keep perspective.

Source: Vanderbilt News 

“It was a tough turn of events, really, for these kids to grasp,” Corbin said recently on MLB Network’s MLB Tonight show. “Some of them still don’t – they come into the office and they’re in wonderment of what’s happening. So you just try to explain it to them and how these things will reverse themselves in time,” according to Chip Bishop Vanderbilt University Commodore Sports.

We are but six degrees of separation or in this case, as recommended by President's Coronavirus Task Force, six feet wearing a mask. We all facing much more than the loss of a baseball season.  The new normal will change the way we do things and experience life for a while, and Corbin helps to put it all in that context for his players and perhaps all of us as well.

Source: SI.com

“There’s people with greater issues than losing a baseball season. We just have to put good perspective on it and we have to do what we need to do, that being good citizens and just try to follow the order of people who are smarter and more educated about this situation than us.”

So as I finish watching epic film The Ten Commandments, instead of watching the Yankees, I remain hopeful that we will get through this and baseball will return in some capacity this year.  And perhaps we will all appreciate it more, including players and owners, and not get caught up in things that take the joy out of the game.

--Suzie Pinstripe
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @suzieprof

IT'S TIME FOR BASEBALL TO GET MORE CREATIVE

Source: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

On Tuesday, the city of Toronto banned all public events until June 30th as a result of the coronavirus.  This changes the whole trajectory of the 2020 baseball season as we all know that the Blue Jays sit within the Yankees Division and the concern is clearly that if Toronto is doing this, is New York next?  With the pandemic ranging and 80% of Americans already under stay at home orders for at least the next month, it is time for baseball to get creative if they want to have a season.

Al Leiter, former NY Yankee and Met pitcher and YES Analyst, calls for innovation when it comes to salvaging 2020 baseball.  And for good reason.  This is an opportunity to do something interesting and bring baseball back in some capacity as a light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel.

"Whether that involves an expanded playoff structure, a regular season that stretches through October and World Series games at neutral sites, the former pitcher — now a MLB Network analyst and special adviser for the Mets — embraces the idea of a potential season serving as a giant laboratory," reported the New York Post.

Source: AP

As the spring training hub for the Yankees and many teams in the eastern part of the country, Florida could be the next epicenter for the coronavirus, getting into the stay home mandate late.  This could affect a spring training continuation but Leiter says many players could ramp up sooner.  As my good colleague, Steve Azul and I discussed on the Dugout Podcast on Monday, they may need to do spring training at their own home facilities once bans are lifted.  And games could be played locally, with teams that could be a train, bus or car ride away.

Source: New York Post

Besides no baseball for the MLB players and fans, Leiter warns that this is impacting the economy of baseball and other layers that go all the way back to college and high school programs. His own son, Jack, is a pitcher with Vanderbilt, set to defend their College World Series championship this spring.

“When you really peel it back with the layers of disappointment it really is almost endless with respect to how one entity affects so many layers of groups of people and industry and economics of it and enjoyment and fulfillment and all of it,” Leiter said, referring to the coronavirus. “It goes multiple, multiple layers.”

On the podcast, we discussed 81 to 100 games leading into the post season which would presumably begin in early November, bringing teams to warmer climates and neutral sites.  There has also been talk of once a week double-headers and expanded rosters to support the influx of games.

It's time for baseball to get creative and think about the various ways they could get the games in for the 2020 season.  For the sake of the game, for the sake of the players, for the sake of the fans, and for the sake of my sanity, let's hope the Commissioner and his team has some good ideas to redeem baseball for 2020.

--Suzie Pinstripe
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @suzieprof