MLB: Can we really have baseball in May without the Minor Leagues?
Recent reports state that MLB is considering a plan to start the season in Phoenix in May. Is that possible without the minor leagues starting play as well?
Chase Field might have just become the best stadium in MLB. According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, MLB and the MLBPA are considering a plan that will get the 2020 season going before June. Get real sports, not video game simulations, back on national television. Get fantasy baseball leagues back to drafting.
It also involves getting thirty baseball teams to Phoenix and keeping them there for as long as necessary to complete the season.
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That’s right. Thirty teams – one city.
Granted, it’s a city with just enough stadiums to make this work. Home to the Cactus League, half of MLB has a spring training facility there. The Diamondbacks naturally have Chase. Throw in colleges and high schools, and you can see this working.
Book your tickets for Phoenix now- because it just became the greatest summer vacation destination of every baseball fan ever.
Except, of course, that fans aren’t invited.
Obviously, there is a reason something like this is being considered. As Passan lays out, everything is on the table from eliminating mound meetings to having players avoid dugouts- all in the essential spirit of social distancing and combating COVID-19.
Players will be directly transported from field to hotel, with all manner of sterilization procedures in place. Again, no fans in attendance. But games back on tv for fans to watch, garnering all the revenue that comes with it.
My question though, is what happens to the minor league teams MLB depends on?
Put another way- what happens when one of these MLB players gets hurt?
Minor Leagues: Postponed Season to Have Heavy Impact on Players. light. Related Story
As great as it would be, this Phoenix plan seems dead in the water already. MLB cannot function without being able to draw upon fresh talent from the minor leagues.
Especially in a shortened season such as the one MLB is facing. And minor league teams are just not going to be able to match MLB for the dollars and infrastructure needed to keep their players playing and safe as well.
So, just why does MLB need MiLB? Let’s take a look at the two primary reasons.
Can we really have baseball without the Minor Leagues?
Players Will Get Hurt. A Lot.
First off, even if this was a regular 162 game season, it’s no surprise that players get hurt every day. Every day of the season, at least one organization is making a roster move to account for that.
Often enough, it’s from the 40 man roster. But just as often, it eventually isn’t. The wear and tear of sport’s longest season is extreme. Arms blow out, muscles get pulled, bodies are needed.
Bodies that are in shape and warmed up and ready to go. In other words, bodies that have been playing baseball already. Minor league players.
Again, this has always been the case. But between the bizarre strain of what will ultimately be two instances of spring training and the likely elimination of off-days, injuries could increase dramatically this season. Hence, more minor leaguers will be needed.
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More Players Will Be Needed This Season- Even If It’s Shorter
Secondly, despite all efforts in the offseason to increase pace-of-play by limiting pitching changes, the 2020 season could be on track to shatter the record for the number of pitchers used.
Bear in mind another proposal that keeps coming up is conducting regular doubleheaders to fit in as much of that 162-game schedule as possible. Then look back on previous doubleheaders your team has played in seasons past. Whoever was going to pitch that day anyway starts Game 1. Then, for Game 2, Bob from Triple-A Hawkins takes the mound.
That’s not meant to denigrate “Bob.” Bob tries very hard, and Bob could end up being the next big thing. But the point is that the 2020 season — if it holds regular double-headers — if it eliminates off-days, is going to need a lot of Bobs.
Can we really have baseball without the Minor Leagues?
This Town Isn’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us
Consequently, this would need to be more than thirty teams in Phoenix. It would basically need to be sixty. The primary MLB club, and a second full roster of minor leaguers.
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Obviously, unless the minor league teams take over every high school in the greater Phoenix area, that isn’t happening.
Certainly, there could be possible workarounds. The bulk of these facilities, all of them except for Chase Field really, are designed to house far more than the standard 25-man roster. So teams could theoretically fly out the entire 40-man roster, and at least have lockers for them. Though it seems fair to wonder whether all players would be comfortable sharing close quarters with that many people.
Having them stay sharp, and in playing shape though? That’s even harder to do, even with practice fields attached to many of these spring stadiums. They need to be playing games as well, which brings us back to seizing every high school diamond in sight.
It also brings us back to needing full-size teams of minor leaguers.
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Already, it’s been acknowledged that there are a lot of issues and policies that would need to be worked out to make that Phoenix plan come to fruition. I just think MLB might be overlooking the biggest one.