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The Arizona Plan

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SpringTrainingHoHoKamPark.jpg
Cactus League game, 2007. By Andy Jou from Kirksville, Missouri, USAFlickr, CC BY 2.0, Link

To my recollection we haven’t discussed the plan that MLB floated to restart baseball under quarantine conditions in Arizona:

Major League Baseball and its players are increasingly focused on a plan that could allow them to start the season as early as May and has the support of high-ranking federal public health officials who believe the league can safely operate amid the coronavirus pandemic, sources told ESPN.

Though the plan has a number of potential stumbling blocks, it has emerged above other options as the likeliest to work and has been embraced by MLB and MLB Players Association leadership, who are buoyed by the possibility of baseball’s return and the backing of federal officials, sources said.

The plan, sources said, would dictate that all 30 teams play games at stadiums with no fans in the Phoenix area, including the Arizona Diamondbacks‘ Chase Field, 10 spring training facilities and perhaps other nearby fields. Players, coaching staffs and other essential personnel would be sequestered at local hotels, where they would live in relative isolation and travel only to and from the stadium, sources said.

Here’s a very good article recording some (anonymous) players reactions to the idea. At this point, looks neutral-negative:

Veteran AL reliever: “Honestly, my reaction would be I’m not OK with being separated from my family in the middle of a pandemic. Now if it was, ‘Hey, guys will be separated for a few weeks,’ then OK. But four months is rough.”

Veteran AL reliever: “You get into these certain scenarios just to play, and then at the end of the day, is it worth it? We have [several] coaches who are more than 70 years old. I don’t want to play if it’s putting one of them in jeopardy of their life.”

All-Star infielder: “I was worried about baseball being in a position with waning interest in the game, and this being kind of a unique opportunity to present itself as the only sport that is able to be watched. A game looking to draw attention, [they might be thinking], ‘If we can give them anything, we should.’ But are you gonna put people at risk just so you can be kings of the sports world for a couple of months?”

As they say, plenty of wrinkles to iron out. But I’d call myself vaguely optimistic; I suspect there’s enough money in the TV contracts to convince the players to undergo quarantine, although the MLBPA should make certain to ensure that players who refuse to quarantine without their families are nevertheless protected.


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