Take me out to the ballgame

Take me out with the crowd …

Well, hold on there a minute, Mr. and Mrs. Baseball Fan. Nobody can take you or your kids to the ballgame. And no crowd is allowed. MLB has made the call.

“You’re out!”

No fans can attend games during the 60-game season, although the Red Sox, the White Sox, and the Marlins have said they will permit some spectators. Miami, who had the worst attendance in all of baseball last year, should have no problem with social distancing at Marlins Park.

How about this? The San Francisco Giants said that season ticket holders can send in images of themselves, and cardboard cutouts of them will be placed in their purchased seats. The Giants will have fans in attendance - sort of. Imagine watching the game from your TV and you see a foul ball knock the head off your cardboard body. An attendant then drops your remains into a garbage bag. Like they say, you get what you pay for.

MLB has also announced that team mascots will be allowed. What will the Philly Phanatic, Mr. Met, and the San Diego Chicken actually do with no fans and especially no kids in the ballpark? Perhaps they can zoom their clown acts to the kids watching at home. That might be fun for a game or two.

The good

The first really good thing is the obvious. Baseball is coming back to starved fan bases who have not seen a pitch thrown or a ball hit in three months of what would be a normal season. We’re all ready to share a tear of joy when we see our team jog across the white line to take their positions. Clubs are now reporting for an abbreviated “spring” training, with games that count beginning on July 23 and 24.

With only about a third of the usual 162 contests scheduled, games will have a postseason feel right from the get go. In addition, the division alignments are geographically configured so the Phillies will play the Mets, Braves, Nationals, and Marlins 10 times each with the remaining 20 games matched against American League opponents who are geographically nearby, eliminating any long road trip travel.

Some crazy things could occur in such a short season. Imagine the terrible Baltimore Orioles get off to a flying start and lead the AL East by five games with 10 to play. What if the vaunted Yankees go on an eight-game losing streak about 20 games into the schedule and don’t make the playoffs? What if we’re watching the Tigers and the Marlins, who lost a combined 219 games last year, play in the 2020 World Series? A baseball schedule is usually a marathon race, but this year, it’s a sprint, and an also-ran team will get another Mighty Casey’s swing of the bat to try and bring joy to their Mudville nine.

Five teams from each league will make the playoffs. Expect a major upset or two in the battle to win it all. The 60-game format gives every team hope for a miracle season, especially in places like Kansas City where the Royals finished 37 games out of first place last year. If KC finishes 24 games under .500 this year, they will have a record of 18-42. If KC is playing that bad again, Royals’ manager Mike Matheny might want to take off his mask and pull it over the lens of the TV camera.

For the very first time, the designated hitter will be used in both leagues. Last year, the Diamondbacks’ Zack Greinke led all starting pitchers in hitting at .227, followed by the Giants’ Madison Baumgarner at .219. Maybe it’s time to make the DH rule universal. MLB’s reason is to protect pitchers from getting too tired, which might make them more susceptible to getting the coronavirus.

Speaking of the virus that has crippled our country for the past four months, tests will be given every other day for all baseball personnel. Temperature and symptoms will be checked twice a day and antibody testing will occur once per month.

The bad

On many levels, this will not be baseball as we have known it. If the game is tied after nine innings, a runner will be placed at second base to start each extra inning until the game is won. The batter who made the last out in the previous inning becomes the runner at second, although pinch runners are allowed. The league doesn’t want long games, but who wants to see a hot pennant race game decided when the designated runner scores from second on a ground ball that goes through the shortstop’s legs?

Players and other personnel who are not in the game must wear masks and sit in the stands while those in the lineup will wear masks and be in the dugout. If Dominic Smith of the Mets is in section 224 during the season’s first game and catches the first foul ball hit into the stands, somebody should get that ball to Cooperstown. It will be the first foul ball in MLB history caught by a player in uniform while he was sitting in the stands.

Of course, there will be no vendors shouting, “Get your ice cream” or “Beer here,” and no seventh-inning stretch unless it comes from the ball boy who kicks out a cramp in his leg before the home half of the inning.

No celebratory high-fives, fist bumps, or hugs are allowed. Imagine Bryce Harper hits a walk-off home run and is greeted at the plate with air fives from his teammates, who are standing six feet away from him and another six feet from each other. The last in line will be so far away, he can text Harper a virtual high five.

What if the Phils’ Zack Wheeler throws a no-hitter? He’ll be mobbed by nobody and given a standing ovation by the grounds crew.

The MLB has not mentioned the penalty if a player disregards the social distance rule. Perhaps he’ll be banished to solitary confinement in the upper deck.

The ugly

If a Covid 19 outbreak occurs in a team’s city, their games will be relocated to neutral sites, which makes sense, but what if many of the biggest stars of the game test positive? They will be on the coronavirus ineligible-to-play list until they test negative. So if Mike Trout hits his Angels to the World Series with a .400 batting average and then tests positive along with several key teammates, the team that got the Angels to the championship round won’t be the same team that will play in it.

Ultimately, the virus could be the X-factor that decides who wins and who loses this year. MLB officials’ worst nightmare is having to cancel the season midway through due to Covid spikes that might derail entire teams. Let’s pray to the baseball gods that doesn’t happen.

Play ball!

For us baseball junkies, we’re just happy that the National Pastime is back, and despite all the unusual conditions and rules placed upon this Covid 19 season, once the first pitch is thrown, we’ll sit back and enjoy the greatest game in the world. It’s certainly not the perfect situation, and whatever happens in the next three months will be forever branded with asterisks in the record books.

As Yogi Berra would say, “The future ain’t what it used to be.”