Are We There Yet?

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, top infectious disease expert of the federal government, told the New York Times “there are certain parts of the country — in the Mountain region and in the Midwest and in some of the places where there is very little infection and they’re developing the capability of responding — I think they’re getting back to some form of more normality.”

Sounds to me like baseball could safely return sans fans and with teams isolated to a few tight-knit communities. The issue is Major League Baseball doesn’t seem too keen on that plan.

Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reported the “preferred plan” is to start play in late June or early July with as many teams as possible playing in home parks. He also wrote that the idea of isolating teams to hub sites is now “being downplayed or dismissed.”

Perhaps the most intriguing information of all comes from our old friend Trevor Plouffe, who passed this along Monday evening on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/trevorplouffe/status/1257422311772360706

Teams back together and training in a little over a month? Opening Day July 1? In home ballparks!?!?!? Some good baseball news, indeed, but is it realistic?

It’s important to point out that at this time Plouffe’s report doesn’t appear to be confirmed by any other sources. Actually, quite the opposite. From The Athletic’s Keith Law:

https://twitter.com/keithlaw/status/1257444114687197185

It seems to me the fly in the ointment is if the MLB insists upon each team playing in its home stadium, they’re going to need approval from 30 different state and local government agencies. Is that realistic? It seems to be impossible to say at this time.

No, we're not there yet, and don't ask again! HA!

Baseball is secondary at the moment, of course. Safety and control of the spread of coronavirus comes first. Still, we have to at lease be getting closer to baseball's return, right?

I don't know. Either way, despite the sunny forecast from Plouffe, more clouds remain.

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