When Will the 2020 MLB Season Begin? (Poll)

[24fps]

Your best guess as to when play will begin.  Poll closes on April 30.

[SteveA]

Seems like things in China are STARTING to get back to business as usual after a month or two.   But of course they did some draconian measures of containment that will not happen here.   But they also had factors that made the spread worse such as the open air markets, cultural norms, population density, etc.

So I'm going to optimistically guess late May but I could be way off.   We just don't know how this is going to spread and when it will peak.   And actually, the measures being taken to slow the spread could actually LENGTHEN the duration that a lot of things are shut down because until this makes its way through a large chunk of the population it's not going to go away.   But we have to do it to lessen the burden on the health care infrastructure.   If we just let it spread rapidly and kill a few million people we'd be rid of it faster and the survivors could resume business as usual sooner, but of course that's not what we should do.

[interloper]

I'm gonna say Monday, June 1.

I can't believe this is a thing we have ended up talking about.

[DrungoHazewood]

Question about the poll and the last option: if the 2020 season doesn't start in 2020 is it really the 2020 season?

[ORIOLE33]

I think MLB will be affected the most in all of this. It’s gonna be horrible for MLB to have to share its pennant race limelight with the NBA. 

[24fps]

5 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Question about the poll and the last option: if the 2020 season doesn't start in 2020 is it really the 2020 season?

Fair point.  I probably should have put "Not at All".  I think the meaning will be clear for most, but I'll change it if I can figure out how to edit a poll.

[Moose Milligan]

25 minutes ago, SteveA said:

Seems like things in China are STARTING to get back to business as usual after a month or two.   But of course they did some draconian measures of containment that will not happen here.   But they also had factors that made the spread worse such as the open air markets, cultural norms, population density, etc.

So I'm going to optimistically guess late May but I could be way off.   We just don't know how this is going to spread and when it will peak.   And actually, the measures being taken to slow the spread could actually LENGTHEN the duration that a lot of things are shut down because until this makes its way through a large chunk of the population it's not going to go away.   But we have to do it to lessen the burden on the health care infrastructure.   If we just let it spread rapidly and kill a few million people we'd be rid of it faster and the survivors could resume business as usual sooner, but of course that's not what we should do.

Well here in the States there are still people walking around like this is no big deal.  We had an NBA player yesterday - I'm sure you saw this- mock the virus by touching all the reporters microphones, etc.  And then got the virus.  And now his teammate has it.  In China, you'd probably lose a hand for that. 

I think we've botched this thing pretty good.  Two weeks ago, Italy was acting like it's no big deal and now their hospitals are packed.  Right now we've got about the same amount of cases they did two weeks ago.  The positive tests here in the States is most likely going to explode here shortly due to the fact that it's an incubation period of 5-10 days.  People can have it in their systems and not know it for 5-10 days, pass it to someone else and not even know that they did.  If Italy is any indication of what COULD happen, that's what I'm expecting here.  Cause, 'merica.

5 minutes ago, ORIOLE33 said:

I think MLB will be affected the most in all of this. It’s gonna be horrible for MLB to have to share its pennant race limelight with the NBA. 

MLB having to share it's pennant race limelight should be the least of anyone's concerns.

[RVAOsFan]

If the season doesn't get played at all does this season count as a year of service against a players contract? A post in the locked thread about Mookie Betts made me think about it and I would think it has to.

[24fps]

29 minutes ago, SteveA said:

Seems like things in China are STARTING to get back to business as usual after a month or two.   But of course they did some draconian measures of containment that will not happen here.   But they also had factors that made the spread worse such as the open air markets, cultural norms, population density, etc.

So I'm going to optimistically guess late May but I could be way off.   We just don't know how this is going to spread and when it will peak.   And actually, the measures being taken to slow the spread could actually LENGTHEN the duration that a lot of things are shut down because until this makes its way through a large chunk of the population it's not going to go away.   But we have to do it to lessen the burden on the health care infrastructure.   If we just let it spread rapidly and kill a few million people we'd be rid of it faster and the survivors could resume business as usual sooner, but of course that's not what we should do.

I think this is the right thought process.  My choice is sometime in June.  In my mind I have the over/under at 95 games played, which for perspective, is fewer games than both the 1981 and the 1994 seasons.  This is going to be much more than just a bump in the road in my opinion.

[canonfaz]

Possible silver lining: Everyone realizes how much they miss watching baseball in person and once the season starts Camden Yards is packed all summer long to watch a rebuilding team with a few interesting prospects (including Mountcastle since the extra year of control isn't an issue).

[bpilktree]

The weather will warm up by late April in Florida and they will restart Spring training i am guessing around April 20th then three weeks spring training and start about May 11th.

 

[interloper]

1 minute ago, canonfaz said:

Possible silver lining: Everyone realizes how much they miss watching baseball in person and once the season starts Camden Yards is packed all summer long to watch a rebuilding team with a few interesting prospects (including Mountcastle since the extra year of control isn't an issue).

Sorta curious about this. Ideally he'd have played in AAA for a month or whatever. I don't think they'll bring him up without that happening first. Could be a much later debut for Mountcastle than we thought.

[Redskins Rick]

Spin that wheel for the start date

 

[wildbillhiccup]

I saw an unconfirmed source saying they were planning a slow roll out (limited games) around April 6th. So about a two week delay. If they cancel spring training that sounds overly ambitious to me. 

[24fps]

3 minutes ago, wildbillhiccup said:

I saw an unconfirmed source saying they were planning a slow roll out (limited games) around April 6th. So about a two week delay. If they cancel spring training that sounds overly ambitious to me. 

I wouldn't be surprised if that's close to peak infection in the US judging by recent history.  Maybe not even.  Ambitious indeed.