How many games will the O's play in 2021?

[wildcard]

The O's played 60 games in 2020 mainly because the owners did not want to pay players to play in empty ball parks.  No fans, limited games.   So what is your guess on what happens in 2021?

I have seen Dr Fauci say that the vaccine will not be readily available until the 3rd and 4th quarter of 2021.  That is his educated guess.  Opinions may vary.    That may means July  as the most likely time for large distribution of  the vaccine which may signal time for the clubs to have fans in the stands.    So do the owners open before that?    

What are your thoughts?

[Sports Guy]

I think the results of the election will have a lot to do with this.  How the media covers it will matter as well.

Right now, why wouldn’t you play a full season?

[Moose Milligan]

Somewhere between 120 and a full 162.  

[Legend_Of_Joey]

Some states are already allowing fans in the stadiums. Now they will have almost 4-6 months to get everything squared away to allow fans in all stadiums by Opening Day.

[Spy Fox]

The World Series is happening, with fans, in the midst of one of the more serious surges of the pandemic. (Non New York category.)

So yeah, with that as a precedent + a whole winter to prepare, I think the most likely outcome is a full season and even some amount of fan attendance from day 1. 

[LookinUp]

I say 177, give or take a game 7.

[orioles119]

Play the whole damn season.  No reason not too.

[jamalshw]

What I heard most recently was second or third quarter of 2021 for the vaccine available to anyone who wants it so that would put us sometime during the season. Right now we are seeing fans in the stands for the World Series (albeit just 11,000).

A lot will depend on what happens over the next few months in terms of the pandemic. We've seen some of the highest numbers nationwide. If that doesn't get a bit more under control by March we may see a shorter season, but if most--if not all--stadiums can accommodate 8-10K fans per game, that goes a long ways towards being able to at least afford a much longer season. 

I'm expecting (optimistically) a crowd-less spring training and a full season (for now) with limited fans in the stands particularly to start with the stadiums able to be at least 50-75% full by season's end.

[Oriole1940]

I see that the first vaccine that I am aware of was formally approved by FDA this  past week.  So things are moving right along on that front, maybe 2021 will be semi normal at least.  Sure hope so.

[wildcard]

From MLBTR:

While the obvious hope is that fans will be back in the park for a full 162-game slate next season, that’s wholly dependent on the status of the coronavirus and the associated public health guidelines in place. To this point there’s no clear timeline on when a vaccine will be produced, approved, scaled and distributed such that clubs could expect business as usual. And while Manfred has previously taken an optimistic tone on that front, he struck a different chord in speaking with Bloom this week.

“t’s going to be difficult for the industry to weather another year where we don’t have fans in the ballpark and have other limitations on how much we can’t play and how we can play,” Manfred told Bloom. “…It’s absolutely certain, I know, that we’re going to have to have conversations with the MLBPA about what 2021 is going to look like. It’s difficult to foresee a situation right now where everything’s just normal.”

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/10/rob-manfred-mlb-debt-revenue-losses-commissioner.html

 

 

[HowAboutThat]

Very interesting question. Remember that the owners are greedy and have demonstrated time and again that they are more interested in money than anything else. With that in mind I think they will push for a full season and partial stadiums. Bearing in mind that most games have ~50% capacity or less, proper spacing should be pretty easily attained.

player risk can be dealt with as well, with enlarged rosters or another player pool group.

The owners want their money.

[LookinUp]

As do the players. When the pot to share from is half full, the people sharing are fighting over less. Fighting. Will get as ugly in MLB as any sport. 

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, LookinUp said:

As do the players. When the pot to share from is half full, the people sharing are fighting over less. Fighting. Will get as ugly in MLB as any sport. 

I think it will play out like this season with players wanting the maximum number of games and owners trying to reduce the total games played while lowering player salaries by a similar amount.

[LookinUp]

5 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I think it will play out like this season with players wanting the maximum number of games and owners trying to reduce the total games played while lowering player salaries by a similar amount.

Manfred pulled some kind of trump card this year didn't he? Was there ever really an agreement or was he able to use his existing authority to essentially force the solution on the players? My guess is that's the plan again for next year absent a change in Covid (which could happen too).

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, LookinUp said:

Manfred pulled some kind of trump card this year didn't he? Was there ever really an agreement or was he able to use his existing authority to essentially force the solution on the players? My guess is that's the plan again for next year absent a change in Covid (which could happen too).

I'm sure he's going to be working with ownership to help force a deal that is as advantageous as possible for them.