MLB Should Just Cancel The Season

Team sports needs to pack it up and don't come back until 2022. 

Golf will be fine. 

> Time to scrap this season the roughly $11 billion in annual revenues 

Fixed that for you.

I want 'em to play.

Why not? Who cares?  

If you're not interested don't watch. Personally the only thing I really ever watch on TV is sports, and I'm ready to have something to watch.

The only thing that will be bogus is that the suits will almost certainly have some phony digital imagery over the stands, instead of just showing us what it actually is; just some guys playing ball.

I actually think the idea of the elite major leagues playing without crowds is kind of cool. They'll be playing just like they used to when they were kids; just players playing a game. No distractions, no home field advantages, just playin' a game. At a REALLY high level.

Plus we'll hear everything they say.

GO GIANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let them play! Let them play!

I want to see what the White Sox can do. They were contendas in '94 but the strike put the kibosh on the season and it took another 11 years for them to achieve World Series glory.

No covid BS gonna stop them now.

Go Go White Sox!

Pro tennis has been coming back with very small tournaments, round-robins, no fans, very few people on the court. Except Novak Djokovich had a tournament last weekend in Belgrade where there were a lot of fans in the stands, ball kids, linesmen, no masks, no distancing. He said that the government had lifted restrictions and there was no reason to have any precautions. The players hugged at the end of matches, shook hands, but hadn't been quarantined before the matches. I watched another tournament played in Nice with all precautions in place, no fans, and piped-in applause and cheering from non-existent fans. It was strange at first but then became just background noise.

There are more matches scheduled. I'm so grateful for The Tennis Channel.

If Posey hits a homerun @ Wrigley and there's no bleacher bums taunting to throw it back on the field.

were they ever here at all...

Watch the game/match with the sound off and listen to music on a separate device is a good solution. 

Yeah, I say bring it on.  It is the only sport I follow. And I love the fantasy shit. Both seasonal and daily. Jones'n pretty bad.

It looks like they may be close to an agreement.

GO GIANTS!

The MLB is becoming a culturally irrelevant sport for most Americans. 

I agree. As a baseball fan, at this point all the air has been taken out of the season. There just won't be that much excitement. A world series with no one there just sounds like a horrible event.

70 games may make the season not so fucking boring

Go Tribe!

>>and it will let the Astros and Red Sox escape the wrath of fans in stadiums they visit for the cheating shenanigans they perpetrated.

Is this what motivates you the most as a fan of the game? Wow. Watching games as a fan is fun way to spend some time - spending that time wanting to enjoy "the wrath of fans" is pure unadulterated schadenfreude. 
 

>>The MLB is becoming a culturally irrelevant sport for most Americans. 

JR is right on here. MLB has truly become the sport of old white men. 

Maybe just watch the other game for old white men - PGA golf.

They should make them change name of Hockey to Honky for reparations 

Dave, the only part of what you said that I agree with is the risk of exposing the players to the damned plague.

Otherwise it'll just be something going on, something completely unique which would make it interesting, something ultimately meaningless but probably exciting in it's own way since with so few games each game will mean more.

Yeah, it'll be weird and off somehow without the excitement of the crowd, but it won't last that long, no one will REALLY care or remember what happens and hopefully next year everything is back to "normal". I think whether they play this year or not the fans & the players will be excited if/when things do get back to normal again. Playing or not playing this year isn't going to hurt the league in the future; the league already hurts itself in many ways other than this short-season business. It's just games.

And IMO having both leagues using the softball 10-player rules with the universal DH is a far bigger taint to the National Pastime then two or three months of games without fans in the stands during a pandemic.

BTW, why does a sport have to be culturally relevant? The NBA/basketball is probably the most "culturally relevant" sport these days, and everyone here loves to say how much it sucks now, pretty much since it became the most culturally relevant sport. Anyway, relevance in general is a highly over-rated concept.

It's just games.

Missing Cubs baseball.  Java wants to take his ball and go home.  Don't you root for the Orioles?  They had an awful year last time around so I understand why you're salty.  ;)

Sport of old white men>>>>
 

Actually, the sport is now more popular in South America and Asia. In Dominican Republic I'm pretty sure that's their most popular sport by far.

^^^

Easily in the Dominican, for sure. I was down there for the 2018 WS when the Red Sox beat the Dodgers (including that crazy 18 inning game - which was the only game of the WS that year that the Red Sox lost). I watched a lot of the games surrounded by old Dominican men drinking Mamajuana shots whenever the Red Sox scored! They love the Red Sox in the Dominican where Big Papi is basically a living God among men. They also love Pedro Martinez, but they consider Manny Ramirez to be a clown for the most part. Most of them also believe that long time Orioles third baseman Manny Machado is a complete embarrassment to baseball.

Lifelong baseball fan here.  I find it amusing that this sport just can't get out of its own way though.

Of course that should read FORMER longtime Orioles Third Baseman...

No choreographed dugout celebrations and spitting sunflower seeds.

Oh the horror...

My concern is for the athletes late in their careers who may not get a chance at a championship (asterisk* laden or not). Maybe not as relevant in MLB where careers are longer (larger rosters, more utility positions, fewer injuries, DH etc) Cue up NHL's Joe Thornton as an example...

 Sports like concerts are entertainment for me I need to be there. Combine them, with a band playing on top of the dugout and I'm sold!

Also a lifelong baseball fan. The strike left such a bad taste in my mouth I don’t think I watched a game for five years. 

Yeah it’s fun. It’s also a game. 

They can keep the whole “millionaires fighting with billionaires” thing and stick it. I’ll probably tune it all out another five years if they can’t get it together. I understand they won’t miss me.

Summertime weather has arrived, the lawn is mowed, garden weeded. Nothing left to do but beer, baseball and watching the grass grow. Well 2 out of 3 ain't bad. I used to blame the owners, then the players, now I don't really care, they're all selfish privileged fucknucks. Will somebody, anybody just toss a pitch please - in the dirt, hit the bull, I don't care, just play some hardball. America could really use some right about now

so...players should expose themselves for our entertainment?

maybe, americans need a break from sports. similar to bss, i took about 10 yrs off from watching/paying attention. 

maybe shit can happen here if we aren't so preoccupied...?

maybe.

and yes if they come back the "champions" will have *'s next to it. i feel for the players at the end or in their prime but...

< brown bag it at little league

Funny you say that. I pulled in and watched the Watertown High team practice yesterday for about 20 mins. Haven't seen anyone on that diamond since last fall.  My mind was instantly uplifted to a place of zen

Phillies just closed their Clearwater facility over 8 positive tests.  I sure hope that's not how it's going to be all summer, although that's likely.

Lance - I agree with you about wanting so see some baseball, even the Giants, but I imagine this season is going to be one big asterisk.  50 games would be the equivalent to the end of May and goodness knows you can see some oddities early season.  Would a .400 BA or 0.33 ERA count as season records?  The upside is the Dodgers could get off to a slow start and miss the playoffs.

BTW - just read a book by Paul Goldberger on the history of baseball stadiums.  Highly recommended for good history and lore.

Java - or you an Orioles, Nationals, Mariners fan?  Who is your team?

I think we will see some sort of season. Way too much money on the table for them not to come to an agreement. Baseball is the perfect Covid sport. Outside an not a whole lot of close contact. Basketball and Football on the other hand. I could see teams loose half their players after one game where a single player is positive. 

As for the * bring it on it's just the kind of thing people love to argue about. As long as we don't end up with a repeat of 1981 shortened season I'll be fine. 

>>>players should expose themselves for our entertainment<<<

No, they definitely shouldn't, but I'm like everybody else at this point, sick of the sickness, and really want some things of normalcy to return. I really thought there was no chance of a season this year, but since the league & players have been willing and so close to starting I got excited about getting back something that doesn't matter but that I care about and enjoy following.

I got selfish and figured that they'll be careful to keep things clean and distant (a silly notion really) but now we're starting to hear daily about multiple positive cases among players, and today it's been reported that some 49ers have tested positive after having some unofficial self-run practices.

The reality is that this damned thing is still all around us, and even if most younger healthy people aren't dying from it we can't just go back to the way things were until somebody somewhere figures out how to fucking KILL THIS THING!!! 

I really want them to play because I'm bored and I miss the fun of following a team every day (the daily aspect of it is one of the best things about baseball) but in the harsh light of day it's almost certainly a really stupid thing for them to do.

But if they play I'll watch, and if they don't I won't feel so bad for the aging major leaguers missing out, I'm feeling bad for the minor leaguers who are missing incredibly valuable time to develop. And most of them don't have millions in the bank already.

This whole thing really sucks.

>>>drinking Mamajuana shots<<<

THAT doesn't sound too sucky, that sounds like fun. What's in a Mamajuana shot???

Oh, and...

GO GIANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

>>>Baseball is the perfect Covid sport. Outside an not a whole lot of close contact<<<

On the surface it would seem that way, but it's the locker rooms/clubhouses, transportation, hotels, all the ancillary staff that probably wouldn't get quite the careful attention over time. And then there's the balls all the players are handling, and the bats and all the other equipment. Knowing that the damned plague hasn't really gone away at all, does anyone REALLY think they can go 3+ months without multiple breakouts?

Considering the current reality it really just doesn't make sense for them to play, and we all know if it wasn't for the millions to be made (I heard the current proposal has the players wearing advertising on their uniforms - AACK!) they would definitely not be playing. That the minor leagues won't play for sure is proof enough that they know it's not safe... unless there's money to be made.

So I guess I've changed my position.

But then again no one is asking me and if they play I'll shake my head and then get excited.

But what are the odds they'll make it all the way through to the end?

>>>I bleed the orange and black<<<

Atta' boy Dave. Oh wait, you mean the Orioles. The Orioles are black & orange, the Giants are orange & black.

Get it straight.

The Mets - Orange & Blue.

Half Giants, half Dodgers (really, that's how they came up with those colors).

No wonder that team has always been fucked up.

And I've always liked the Orioles. They were great when I was a kid with Jim Palmer, Mike Cuellar, Paul Blair, Brooks Robinson, Boog.

How can you not like a team that has a guy named Boog?

Orange is a good color. Whoever came up with the colors for the Orioles must have been a Giants fan.

But the Giants were around long before the Orioles, so they get dibs on dominant colors.

GG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where's the Billy Ripken F*ck Face card?

j/k

>>>Boog's Barbeque confession<<<

THAT must be interesting.

You get barbeque with your confession?

"Bless me fathe.... sorry, do you have more napkins?"

And do you confess to Boog himself, or are there Boogettes behind the screen?

 Props to the Baltimore black & orange.  Of course I have to shout out to the team I grew up with, the 69 Mets.  Seaver, Koosman, Clendenon, Cleon Jones, Tommy Agee.  Huge upset in the World Series.

Mets over Orioles, Jets over Colts, Knicks over Bullets.  Has there been more ownage of one city over another since then?

Atlanta won the West over SF in the first divisional series.  What fricken geographer thought Atlanta was in the west?

>>>drinking Mamajuana shots<<<

>>THAT doesn't sound too sucky, that sounds like fun. What's in a Mamajuana shot???

Mama Juana (or Mamajuana) is a drink from the Dominican Republic that is concocted by allowing rum, red wine, and honey to soak in a bottle with tree bark and herbs. ... The alcohol is said to act as an extract base that pulls the herbs' curative properties, creating a herbal tincture often served as a shot.

When I was doing my visits to every mlb Park we did a DC/Balt/ Philly weekend . Friday at RFK ( my visits revisit there since Dead \ All

ans in '73) Saturday was a 3:00 start at Camden , hit Boog's BBQ on Eutaw St for pregame BBQ and was able to walk to the Inner Harbor for post game seafood, winning!!!

>>>is concocted by allowing rum, red wine, and honey to soak in a bottle with tree bark and herbs<<<

Hmm, maybe not so much.

What MLB needs to do now is cough up cash and return it to ticketholders.

Season ticket holders are getting their money back, or they get extra credit if they choose to leave the money down.

I'm sure those holding single game tickets are getting their money back.

Other than that they don't owe us anything.

gonna be confusion on the stats of players baseball cards...

I'm sure those holding single game tickets are getting their money

I'm holding a dozen seats fir my sons 12th birthday in August and haven't heard anything yet. The Giants did refund the April abd Nay games already but nothing beyond that.

I'm sure those holding single game tickets are getting their money

I'm holding a dozen seats for my sons 12th birthday in August and haven't heard anything yet. The Giants did refund the April and May games because they were canceled due to shelter in place rules, already but nothing beyond that. If it was a pair of tickets I wouldn't care, but I have a big chunk of seats. I suppose once the league makes a final decision then there hands will be forced. There hsa to be a major cash flow issue here.....

I used to care, but things have changed.

Not sure I care if they ever play again. 

Hate that the DH will be coming to the National League  and this is ridiculous...

Just when you thought a 2020 baseball season couldn’t look more bizarre, Major League Baseball and the players union are considering the possibility of having games end in a tie for the first time in the sport’s history, and at the very least, will change the format of extra innings.

The two sides agreed in their proposal this week, obtained by USA TODAY Sports, that they will adopt the minor-league rule in 2020 that every inning after the ninth will start with a runner on second base. In the postseason, games will revert back to traditional rules.

It’s possible the extra-inning rule will become permanent, but the union agreed to change the rule for only 2020.

https://dodgerblue.com/mlb-rumors-runner-on-second-base-rule-in-extra-in...

^^^ that is pathetic! What is this, little league baseball? You're supposed to play until someone wins even if it takes 27 innings. That's what was great about baseball..

Yup. You go around and around, instead of back and forth, and you're not tied to a clock. The two best parts of baseball.