The Boston Red Sox and baseball are in a push me and pull you regarding resuming the season. Just cancel it out and plan ahead.
Is it even worth it? The ongoing situation regarding the resumption of play, testing protocols, cancellation of Hall of Fame honors, and empty stadiums to give just a partial list of the potential roadblocks to crate even a limited schedule. Then to finally put the possible season in jeopardy is the bickering between labor and management regarding compensation. If ill will was measurable both sides apparently have the desire to place their business in the crapper. Look at the unemployment numbers and the paycheck to paycheck survival and stupid is a kindness to describe baseball.
I am a fan of baseball first and secondary interest is the Boston Red Sox for team allegiance. What is being presented to the fan – especially the casual fan – is a product they will readily be able to ignore this season and possibly future seasons. Even the more involved fan, which I consider myself to be, is a developing a cavalier attitude towards the professional game.
Professional sports are attempting to rescue what remains of a truncated season and it has drifted into the realm of the bizarre. The National Hockey League is planning on a 24-team playoff and that eliminates just seven teams. I would suggest the decision-makers all go into concussion protocol.
The National Basketball Association did not go to the NHL extremes but decided on the YMCA approach where all games will be played – sans fans – at one venue. Just like a Saturday morning men’s league. The lucky site has not been determined but Las Vegas and Orlando are the front-runners (or losers) in this attempt at closure to the season.
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I do miss baseball and had to cancel pending road trips to see the Red Sox, but I am in all fatalist mode on this season. Just pull the plug, regroup, and try to have a fresh beginning in 2021. The free agents in waiting will become free agents since that is a rare agreement that has been reached, but the continual infighting and games stripped to the bone – no fans – has me on the express lane negative track.
The Red Sox fit in since they are part of a 30 team collective that are competitors but also have cooperative arrangements. Whatever is finally determined, the Red Sox will follow along even if management is opposed. Fans will get to see “games” with faux noise pumped into the stadium and quite possibly the magic of electronics graphics will add fans to the stands for the viewing audience.
Quite possibly, a scrubbed season will be beneficial to the Red Sox with Chris Sale recovering from arm surgery and just might be ready to contribute next year. Dustin Pedroia is in the – lost count – latest rehab of his knee and the extra rest may get Pedey back on the field. Then there is the ballpark. A constant maintenance issue with a park that is a DC-3 while the others play in an A380 field. Spruce it up a bit.
So I am all for just packing it in and planning for 2021. Let the magnates who run the game and their accomplices in uniform spend the offseason trying to refresh the product. The game is worn and wrinkled and this may just be the chance to bring in dragging, screaming, and scratching into the 21st century.