It has been nearly three months since Major League Baseball cancelled all remaining Spring Training games and implemented an initial two-week delay to the regular season due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
While other professional sports league such as the NBA and NHL have announced return-to-play plans, MLB is still attempting to piece together a blueprint for a potential 2020 season.
After turning down the union’s latest economic proposal, MLB reportedly does not intend to counter. The league could instead impose a 50-to-60 game regular season without an agreement, possibly amounting to players receiving the full prorated salaries they desire.
Though this is far from ideal, it will at least ensure some form of a baseball season takes place in 2020. Once the details are finalized, a Spring Training 2.0 is expected to ensue, with games beginning as soon as the end of June or early July.
Retired Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully had been hoping for this outcome, noting that his interest level in baseball is still as high as ever before, via Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated:
“Despite my fall I’m doing okay,” he said. “I am as interested in the game as I ever have been, and I pray and hope that it gets started again soon.”
As he alluded to, Scully was previously hospitalized in April after falling at his home. But now that he has fully recovered, he would love nothing more than to watch the Dodgers begin their quest to a World Series championship this season.
Scully, 92, is now a fourth year into retirement after an illustrious career. He called Dodgers games for 67 seasons, joining the team on their move from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, witnessing 13 National League pennants and six World Series titles.
Having absorbed more baseball than arguably most people, it is great to hear that Scully remains strongly interested in the sport. He previously stated that the return of MLB could help lift the United States from the COVID-19 pandemic.
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