Covid and MLB

jon abbey

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Ah, well one thing is that I watch all sports on DVR, so nothing is slow for me. If I catch up, I usually put it on pause and go do something else for a bit.

That being said, nothing is slower than college football, I can watch a game in an hour.
 

Ale Xander

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Ah, well one thing is that I watch all sports on DVR, so nothing is slow for me. If I catch up, I usually put it on pause and go do something else for a bit.

That being said, nothing is slower than college football, I can watch a game in an hour.
regular season NBA

Nothing is slower than free throws.

hockey is the best on DVR due to 2 long intermissions

(this is assuming no 15 second forward button; that changes everything)
 

johnmd20

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regular season NBA

Nothing is slower than free throws.

hockey is the best on DVR due to 2 long intermissions

(this is assuming no 15 second forward button; that changes everything)
Hockey is intense, though. If you're a fan of a team and watching a playoff game, those intermission breaks are pretty enjoyable.
 
MLB with the strikeouts (and the infield shifts) feels very similar to the NBA with the three-pointers. Finding efficiencies is great in the corporate world, rather less so in the entertainment world.

That said, I'm loving the sports world right now and am as into the games in most sports as I've ever been. Part of that is down to the amount of US sports being shown before midnight in the UK right now, but really, the absence of fans doesn't bother me at all. Fans will be back in due course, and I'm still really enjoying the novelty of seeing sport stripped back to the basics, free of much of the pomp and circumstance and focusing on the winning and losing. These guys don't seem to want to win any less than they would when playing in front of fans, do they?
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Covid strikes the Mets. One player and staff member. Game tonight postponed.
Reasonable to expect that their whole weekend series with the Yankees will be postponed (tomorrow's game has been officially called off). The Reds lost a whole series last weekend after a single positive...3-4 days seems to be the minimum down time to ensure one positive isn't the start of an outbreak.
 

jon abbey

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Yankees and Mets are scheduled again next weekend, so maybe we get six seven inning games in three days.
 

ColdSoxPack

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Per today's LA Times, Charlie Blackmon leads baseball with a .424 average. Baseball has declared all records as valid as if this were a full season. Blackmon is quoted as saying "I think there is some legitimacy to this, I really do".

I don't. How many asterisks should appear next to his average if he hits over .400? I say 3; one for it being a 60 game season, one for being stupid, and one because it's Teddy Ballgame.
 

sean1562

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Ehhh I doubt people will look back in twenty years and not understand the uniqueness of the 2020 season. Lets see if he even gets there before getting too upset about it.
 

djbayko

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Ehhh I doubt people will look back in twenty years and not understand the uniqueness of the 2020 season. Lets see if he even gets there before getting too upset about it.
Yeah, they haven't even played half the games yet. Aren't there almost always .400 hitters this early in the season?
 

jon abbey

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Mets in the clear. Will resume play Tuesday. I assume that means next weekend the Yankees and Mets will try to make up a couple of those games.
They think maybe two doubleheaders (so 5 games in 3 days but with the 7 inning games it is really like 4 games in 3 days, 37 total innings scheduled) and then the last game made up in September.
 

Sad Sam Jones

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Should I hold my breath while we await news that St. Louis has suspended Yadier or demoted him to their training site?
 
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OurF'ingCity

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YMMV on how much you believe Molina's after-the-fact explanation:
I wanted to make a few things clear with the picture I sent. I know COVID is a serious virus, trust me, I had it for a week myself! Many of the people in the picture are the same way and we got together to celebrate beating COVID. The other people in the picture are tested routinely because they work directly at my house or are part of my family! I understand how this looks from the outside, and even though I do this most of the time, I will make sure to be more careful to wear masks and socially distance in the future. And, my message under the picture was to show the world that we can beat this thing! I know this won't make everyone understand, but I hope it clears up some concerns people have.
“FCOVID”
Not because I don't care about the protocols, but because this won't beat us!
At any rate, it doesn't sound like the Cardinals are considering any discipline. Their statement is pretty anodyne/generic:
Given our experience with the outbreak, we have to be extra vigilant as we fight the coronavirus with the three basic principles of social distancing, wearing a mask, and proper hygiene. The Cardinals as an organization must emphasize this in any setting as we move forward. We will remind players and staff that these practices must be done at both home and on the road for us to be successful.
 

edoug

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Should I hold my breath while we await news that St. Louis has suspended Yadier or demoted him to their training site?
Probably best not to.
YMMV on how much you believe Molina's after-the-fact explanation:


At any rate, it doesn't sound like the Cardinals are considering any discipline. Their statement is pretty anodyne/generic:
It's plausible, if his statement came with the original Instragram post. Not after it was edited and then deleted.
 
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The Gray Eagle

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In the Athletic, MLB has told the union they want a "bubble" for the postseason, and even possibly late in the regular season:
https://theathletic.com/2028618/2020/08/28/rosenthal-mlb-pondering-late-season-contender-lockdowns-postseason-bubbles/
As part of a plan to help players avoid infection, the league has informed the Players Association that it wants contenders playing at home the final week of the regular season to lock down in hotels, according to sources familiar with the discussions.

The idea of such a quarantine would be for players to get through the thick of the incubation period for COVID-19 before the expanded playoffs begin. The league is weighing whether to stage the best-of-three wild-card round in teams’ home parks and then move to controlled, bubble-like environments or enter bubbles from the outset. Either way, players would stand the best chance of reducing their chance of infection by leaving their families and residences and isolating in hotels as the regular season draws to a close, league officials and scientific experts say.

The league is awaiting input from the union on the lockdown concept and how families might fit into postseason bubbles, sources say. The union, which negotiated a $50 million bonus pool for the players and has worked closely with the league on health and safety protocols, is thought to be open to any ideas that will help avoid outbreaks of the virus and ensure the completion of the postseason.

One postseason plan under discussion, according to sources, is for the American League playoffs to be played at two of the three parks in Southern California: Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Angel Stadium of Anaheim and Petco Park in San Diego. The National League playoffs would take place at the two parks in Texas: Minute Maid Park in Houston and Globe Life Field in Arlington. The World Series likely would be in Arlington to help MLB and Fox Sports maximize television ratings from the Central time zone.

Other regions still might draw consideration. No plan will be final until it receives ownership approval. And for now, the sites for the wild-card round remain an open question. The advantage of playing the round at home parks would be to cut in half, from 16 to eight, the number of teams that would end up in bubbles. The more people who enter a bubble, the more difficult the environment is to control.
Not sure of how they will end up doing this, but it seems like the idea of keeping everyone in one place as much as possible and limiting contact as much as possible is good. NBA and NHL players have dealt with it for longer, MLB players should be able to deal with it too. Hopefully it will keep them all safe.
 

ColdSoxPack

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What,'s that got to do with Corvid 19?
Per today's LA Times, Charlie Blackmon leads baseball with a .424 average. Baseball has declared all records as valid as if this were a full season. Blackmon is quoted as saying "I think there is some legitimacy to this, I really do".

I don't. How many asterisks should appear next to his average if he hits over .400? I say 3; one for it being a 60 game season, one for being stupid, and one because it's Teddy Ballgame.
I quote my original post that started out Ok and then went right off the rails. Now that Charlie is sub-400 I sleep better. Not great just better.
 

SemperFidelisSox

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Baseball’s bubble plan is set. Just needs approval from players union and agreement on how to integrate families.

World Series: Globe Life Field

ALCS: Petco Park

NLCS: Globe Life Field

ALDS and NLDS in LA, San Diego, Texas and Houston.
 
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YTF

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Baseball’s bubble plan is set. Just needs approval from players union and agreement on how to integrate families.

World Series: Globe Life Field

ALCS: Petco Park

NLCS: Globe Life Field

ALDS and NLDS in LA, San Diego, Texas and Houston.
I'm sure October/November weather were a huge consideration in this decision but am I the only person seeing the irony in bubbling in Texas and Cali? That said, I guess Florida's worked out OK for the NBA.
 

jon abbey

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'Globe Life Field' is the new stadium in Arlington this season, so no one else has to look that up like I just did.
 

staz

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The cradle of the game.
Assuming successful completion of Sunday's schedule (and Sat. night games still in play), by my count only 4 teams will end up playing less than 60 regular season games - which is pretty incredible considering the early issues with the Marlins and Cardinals.
 

shawnrbu

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The 7 inning doubleheaders were huge. The Cardinals have 2 games with the Tigers that didn’t get made up, although they will be scheduled for Monday if the games are needed to determine who makes the playoffs.
 

YTF

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Given the shortened season, the increased number of teams getting into the playoffs and the threat of teams being unable to get the full 60 games in, I'm shocked that there are no play in games. I really expected that there would be a mad scramble to sort out the playoff picture during the first couple of days this week.
 

canderson

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I was completely wrong about this season - I didn't think there was any way it could get played.

Kudos to the teams who did all they could to help mitigate spread.
 

axx

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Given the shortened season, the increased number of teams getting into the playoffs and the threat of teams being unable to get the full 60 games in, I'm shocked that there are no play in games.
The Giants and Brewers did end up with the same record. There just isn't going to be a tiebreak game.
 

scottyno

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In addition to almost no games being missed no major sicknesses among players in season either right? Not counting Freeman and Erod because pretty both cases occurred before they even reported to camp.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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In addition to almost no games being missed no major sicknesses among players in season either right? Not counting Freeman and Erod because pretty both cases occurred before they even reported to camp.
Hard not to count Erod when he missed the entire season due to the complications from his COVID infection. Shouldn't matter when he contracted it, he was unable to play at all because of it. I'd call that major.

But yes, otherwise, it's quite fortunate that no other players missed time due to significant illness or complications.
 

Oppo

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In addition to almost no games being missed no major sicknesses among players in season either right? Not counting Freeman and Erod because pretty both cases occurred before they even reported to camp.
I thought this amazing when I read it so I had to go look. 40+ games postponed but only Det and StL failed to play 60 games (58 each) if my quick math is right.
 

scottyno

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Hard not to count Erod when he missed the entire season due to the complications from his COVID infection. Shouldn't matter when he contracted it, he was unable to play at all because of it. I'd call that major.

But yes, otherwise, it's quite fortunate that no other players missed time due to significant illness or complications.
He didn't get it because MLB decided to play this season was the point