For all the trouble that the NBA and NHL are having with their current seasons, it’s all the more remarkable what Major League Baseball was able to achieve outside of a bubble last year. While baseball was rightly hammered at the start of its shortened season, as coronavirus outbreaks ravaged the Marlins and Cardinals, among others, MLB and the players’ union made adjustments, and went 59 days without a single positive test… right up until Justin Turner’s idiotic misadventure at the World Series cast everything in a bad light all over again. So, it makes sense that the health and safety protocols for the upcoming season, announced on Tuesday, are for the most part running it back on what MLB and the MLBPA agreed to in 2020. The problem is that, even as successful as last year’s model was, Turner still did get COVID, and had the Dodgers not won Game 6 of the World Series to wrap up the title, the league would have had a nightmare on its hands about what to do with Game 7. One of the tricky things with the virus is that you can follow protocols to lower risk factors, but the only way to ensure no one gets sick is to keep everyone at home and not do things like, say, have a baseball season. This baseball season has two key differences from the last one. First, MLB is no longer going with a geographic-based schedule, which means more travel — and transcontinental travel — for everyone. Also, the plan is for minor league baseball to be back, although its schedule remains to be determined. Last year, the lack of a minor league season made it easy for MLB teams to get reinforcements in the event of injuries or coronavirus. All they had to do was call down to the Alternate Training Site, and someone fresh could come right up, having already been participating in the safety protocols. The Alternate Training Site remains part of the framework of the 2021 protocol, with the plan being that players from the ATS will be used to fill out the Taxi Squad when teams go on the road. Teams are responsible for ensuring safe travel for players between the ATS and where they meet their teams, but this is where the non-geographic schedule comes into play. The rule on the ATS is that it must be “located sufficiently close to the location where the club will play its home games during the championship season that commercial air travel is not required.” So, while the Yankees could keep their ATS last year in Scranton, where they have their Triple-A team a two-hour drive from the Bronx, the White Sox, whose top affiliate is in Charlotte, needed to use the facility of an independent league team in Schaumburg, Ill. Further complicating things is that there is no minor league schedule yet, minor league spring training won’t start until the major league season is underway because its trying to keep the spring training facilities uncrowded, and the Alternate Sites from last year were a mix of minor league stadiums, independent league facilities, and colleges. MLB plans to continue with the ATS program because there’s no guarantee that the minor league season will go smoothly, but MLB could not provide clarity on how Triple-A and an ATS program could exist simultaneously, other than that the plan is to have both. There’s still time to figure out the logistics of it all, especially since it’s unlikely that minor league baseball will be played — or, in the MLB legalese, it probably won’t be until well into April, if not May, that “the commissioner commences the Class AAA championship season,” in which case “Clubs may be required to change the location of their Alternate Training Sites.” And exactly who’s playing daily competitive Triple-A baseball and who’s grinding out intrasquad workouts at an ATS is going to be a tricky needle to thread. These are the questions that MLB needs to figure out the answers to, though, because just having had 59 straight days last summer without a positive test doesn’t mean that the whole operation is foolproof. Turner was the fool who proved that, and in the days following the World Series, other Dodgers got coronavirus, too. The weak points of MLB’s plan for 2021 are one that existed last year — the possibility of members of someone’s household bringing in the virus — and this new one, coronavirus getting into baseball through the minor leagues, along with the extra air travel that will be a necessary part of playing out the new year’s schedule. MLB has a shot to pull it off again, but the best shot remains the COVID-19 vaccine, and the sooner everyone gets that, the better off we’ll all be. Relatedtop online football betting sitestop nfl betting sitescollege football betting sitesbest nba betting sitesmlb sportsbooknhl sportsbooksbetting ufcsoccer betsbets on copa america
Related Posts
William Gallas has backed incoming Chelsea manager Antonio Conte to revive the club s fortunes following their miserable 2015-16 season.
Chelsea s Premier League title defence was nothing short of horrendous and they ended the campaign in 10th place.
Jose Mourinho paid the price for Chelsea s dismal start to the season by being sacked in December, before Guus Hiddink steadied the ship and staved off any threat of relegation.
Conte will take over at Stamford Bridge after leading Italy at Euro 2016, and Gallas who won two Premier League titles with Chelsea during his stay between 2001 and 2006 expects the former Juventus boss to propel the club back towards the top of the table.
The former France defender told Omnisport: It was very, very hard to see Che…
The phrase Earn your stripes is unlikely to resonate too much with the average Premier League fan, but it ought to be viewed in foreboding fashion after Hull City s Championship play-off success.
City beat Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 at Wembley on Saturday to book a third spell in the top flight and an immediate return after 2015 s relegation, which was largely overshadowed by owners – the Allam family – attempting to change the club name to Hull Tigers , a move which caused ructions within the fanbase.
They will return with controversial off-field matters once again dominating the discussion.
Season tickets at the KCOM Stadium have been abolished for 2016-17 and replaced with a membership scheme – titled Earn Your Stripes – but a pricing structure w…
Competition: La Liga
Market: Real Betis to beat Leganes
Odds:
La Liga is back for another exciting round of games as Spain s top league continues to simmer away nicely. The importance of going on a positive run in January cannot be underestimated, with many teams getting bogged down after the turn of the year, seeing their good start count for nothing. With all of this in mind, Real Betis host Leganes on Monday.
Real Betis have been in fairly good form this season but they need to climb up the table even further if they are to put the threat of relegation out of their minds. From their 18 games they have won seven, drawn three and lost eight, while they have scored 30 goals and conceded 34 times. In their last five they have managed to win twic…
Arsene Wenger is hopeful Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas will return to Arsenal at some point in his career.
The Spain international made 303 appearances in an eight-year spell with Arsenal before moving back to boyhood club Barca in 2011.
According to Wenger, Fabregas watches every Arsenal game and predicted he will make the switch back to the Emirates Stadium before he retires.
The Frenchman told reporters: Fabregas was an exception, a world-class player.
I m not convinced that he will not one day come back here, because he is a real Arsenal man. He loves Arsenal, he watches every Arsenal game. But of course, Barcelona was his home town and you had to accept that that would come into it, especially with their club having the best team in the world …
England left-back Leighton Baines will travel to Euro 2012, but remembers the heartache he suffered two years ago.
Baines made Fabio Capello s 30-man provisional squad for the 2010 World Cup, but was one of seven players to miss the cut.
The Everton defender revealed on Tuesday how the Italian let him know about his decision.
Theo Walcott didn t go either and I think he got exactly the same phone call, Baines told reporters.
We were both put through to the manager who said, I m sorry, you won t be coming with us, but I look forward to seeing you for the qualifiers. Thank you and goodbye. That was it.
I was a bit of a late runner anyway. Six months before, I was nowhere near, never in the squad and then I made the 30 and had a chance.
…
Javi Martinez has been ruled out for the foreseeable future after sustaining a thigh injury during Bayern Munich s draw with RB Leipzig on Saturday.
The Spanish midfielder lasted just 25 minutes at the Allianz Arena and was replaced by Jamal Musiala, who scored Bayern s first goal in a thrilling game that ended 3-3.
Martinez will be unavailable for the Champions League meeting with Lokomotiv Moscow on Wednesday, though the reigning champions are already guaranteed to finish top of Group A.
A Bayern statement read: Bayern will be without Javi Martinez for the foreseeable future. The Spain international suffered a muscle injury to his left thigh in the Bundesliga top-of-the-table clash against RB Leipzig on Saturday. The diagnosis was confirmed after an examinatio…
Zinedine Zidane is only concerned about Champions League qualification, rather than his own future, ahead of Real Madrid s pivotal clash with Borussia Monchengladbach.
The Spanish side face the distinct prospect of missing out on qualifying for the last-16 stage of the competition after a 2-0 defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk last week saw them slump to third place in Group B.
Madrid s loss was their second in the competition this season they have never lost three times in a single group stage.
Their worrying lack of form in Europe had coincided with a tricky start to their LaLiga title defence too, though the pressure on Zidane was eased somewhat by Saturday s 1-0 win away at Sevilla.
Still, the Frenchman knows the importance of Wednesday s hom…
Brazil take on Mexico on Tuesday, with both sides knowing victory would virtually assure them a place in the last 16 of the FIFA World Cup.
The nations won their opening fixtures of the tournament, Brazil coping with the huge weight of home expectation by overcoming Croatia 3-1 in controversial circumstances on Thursday.
Awarded a soft-looking penalty at 1-1 to move in front for the first time in the match, the hosts also saw their opponents have a goal controversially ruled out when Ivica Olic was adjudged to have fouled goalkeeper Julio Cesar.
Mexico, on the other hand, benefited from perseverance on Friday, as Miguel Herrera s men twice saw Giovani dos Santos strikes wrongly disallowed for offside before Oribe Peralta eventually slotted home to earn them a 1-0 win o…
AC Milan eyeing Fernando Gago
Sport Mediaset is reporting that AC Milan are hot on the trail of Boca Juniors midfielder Fernando Gago.
The Rossoneri have been quite busy this summer, having already secured the signatures of Alex and Jeremy Menez, but they are working hard on new reinforcements.
Sport Mediaset has suggested that AC Milan plan to make a move on Boca Juniors star Fernando Gago as they need a replacement for injured captain Riccardo Montolivo.
The 28-year-old surprisingly opted to return to La Bombonera following a somewhat disappointing spell with Valencia, but he has remained on the radar of Europe s top clubs.
AC Milan boss Filippo Inzaghi has been impressed with the midfielder s performances for Argentina at the 2014 World Cup an…
As I have the worst track record in history when it comes to predicting the scores and results in games, I thought I’d have another go to show you just how bad I really am. I’ve seen the experts do it and they get nearly all of them wrong so I can’t be any worse than them can I?
OK, here goes with this weekends games in the Premier League:
Saturday, 20 September 2008
Blackburn v Fulham, 15:00
Under Paul Ince Blackburn started the season looking good. With Santa Cruz banging in the goals and a well organised defence in front of the former England goalkeeper, what could go wrong? Well, only one point from their last three games and four goals conceded in both of the last two for starters.
Fulham look like…