As the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continues to sweep the nation, Major League Baseball has been evaluating its options to start and carry forward with the 2020 season.
One proposal that has been widely discussed involves all 30 teams beginning the year in Arizona, where games would be played at Chase Field and upwards of 10 Spring Training facilities without fans being permitted to attend.
In between contests, players, coaches and team employees, among others, would be confined to their hotel room — essentially only being allowed to travel back-and-forth from the ballpark.
Some around the league — particularly those with families — haven’t been receptive to this idea for obvious reasons.
Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw is happy the league continues to discuss scenarios to resume play, but personally wouldn’t be onboard with the Arizona plan, via SportsNet LA:
“Well, I have two thoughts. One is I think it’s great that we’re trying to figure something out. That’s awesome. Continuing to work together and figure it out. I will say that situation, I just don’t see that happening. I’m not going to be away from my family and not seem them for four and a half months. I just talked about how much Cooper changes over one week, so to miss four months of his life right now, I’m just not going to do it.
“And there’s a lot of other things that are just wrong with that proposal. But it’s not to say we can’t go somewhere with it. There’s just a lot of things they’re going to have to figure out before I go quarantine myself with my team for four months.”
The deal-breaker for Kershaw is that he wouldn’t be able to visit his family due to the requirement of self-quarantining in between games:
“I can understand how somebody with no family, maybe it’s their first few years, would be OK with any type of baseball being played. I understand that. Just from my personal vantage point, I think there’s something special about Major League Baseball. You start taking away layers of it — whether it be fans in the stands, big stadiums, travel, different things like that — it takes away a little bit of the meaningfulness of the games. I’m all for trying to figure out a solution. I don’t know if I’m in the minority or majority as far as wanting to figure out maybe a little better strategy. I understand the times that we’re in and everybody trying to adapt. All I’ll say is I hope we can come to some type of solution fast, for sure, that I can actually see my family. That’s my only request.”
Unlike Kershaw, Alex Wood is open to beginning the 2020 season in Arizona. However, he acknowledged that not every player would support the plan.
Kershaw previously revealed that he wants the regular season to start as soon as possible, but only once it’s deemed safe for everyone.
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