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?
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.