Rob Manfred has four rocks in his head and nothing more
With apologies to any rocks out there reading this
So Major League Baseball wants to play baseball games in the middle of a pandemic.
“We think we’ve found the safe way,” they’re telling us, pointing to all these ways it can be safe, really, just trust us, we’re going all out here. No one will be within six feet of anyone else at any time, except for the baserunner and the first baseman, and the hitter and the catcher, and two outfielders converging on a ball hit into the gap, and the pitching coach and his pitcher, and the umpire and any players at a base where he needs to get in there to get a good view of the play, and any baserunner sliding into any base when there’s a play, and … well, there’s more, but you get the idea.
Fortunately, that’s the only danger inherent in playing a game of baseball with this virus out there. I mean, it’s not like it lives on inanimate objects (like, for example, round ones made of cowhide with red stitches) for extended periods of time, or that it can be carried and transmitted by people who are asymptomatic, or that everyone in a game of baseball has to touch the same baseball, which is literally the essence of the game, or that right before or after touching the ball, baseball players, who are often extremely twitchy, get busy touching their faces, thus increasing transmission.
And that’s before you even get to what would have to happen off the field, which is that players would be living alone in hotels, without their families or anyone else, for months on end. Their lives would be hotel-field-hotel-field-hotel-field, a miserable existence with no respite.
In all, this proposal is sub-optimal.
There is a way in which I understand why MLB wants to do this, and that way is simple: they want to put on some baseball games. They are, in fact, desperate to put on some baseball games because every game that doesn’t happen is money that they don’t see. If everything is canceled and everyone is staying inside when the season starts, every game that does happen will get big TV ratings and be an event for people to follow and pay attention to.
But on the other hand, stop it. What the hell are you doing?
A version of baseball played without fans is barely baseball. A version of baseball where the players are quasi-prisoners is immoral. A version of baseball being forced into existence weeks or months ahead of the country being ready for it is bizarre.
And don’t forget, players and coaches aren’t the only ones in a stadium, even if there are’t fans. There are team officials, and caterers, and trainers, and people running the electronics, and groundskeepers, and custodians. Do they all have to live in the hotel too? And what about the minor leaguers, who won’t have anywhere to play, but will have to stay ready for when injuries inevitably hit? How are they going to be safe?
And most importantly, how is any of this the priority right now?
The way we get through this is by sheltering in place until we have tests on demand, at a moment’s notice for anyone who needs one, and then we test aggressively and isolate and treat anyone who tests positive. Any excuses we can make to do that but also make an exception for that thing we like ring hollow. No matter how many precautions you take, there will be a way for them to fall short. The risks here are way too high, the reward is way too low, and the cost to the players even in a best case scenario is insurmountable. And if baseball has to do this for a long time, then the coronavirus is even worse than it looks right now, which means they shouldn’t be taking any risks at all for a non-essential sport.
Under Rob Manfred, baseball has had a tendency to float these ideas, get blasted for even considering them, and then back down and pretend it never happened. That’s the best case scenario here, and it’s definitely the one that I’m hoping for.