Season Start Delayed

Here’s some background on today’s one-month delay. 

However, underneath it all is the reality that MLB delayed AAA because they can, but with the big leaguers in a union, they could not.

Baseball America’s J.L. Cooper: “The decision to delay the start of the Triple-A season largely came about because of the difficulties of blending Triple-A travel with the reality that players frequently move back and forth from Triple-A to the majors and vice versa….At the MLB level, teams travel entirely by charter. At the Triple-A level, bus trips are by charter, but all flights are commercial. MLB’s Covid-19 protocols are quite strict in ensuring that MLB players do not cross paths with the general public to reduce risk of a coronavirus outbreak.

But those protocols cannot apply to a Triple-A player brought up from the minors—in many cases those players will have flown commercially in the past week.

By switching to alternate sites, teams will be able to keep their pool of potential call-ups under similar coronavirus protocols to the MLB team.”

ESPN’s Jeff Passan:

“Some executives told ESPN they believe the alternate sites could last longer into the season. The reason for rekindling sites — which serve as training facilities for players who are likeliest to be called up to the major leagues — is the proximity to teams’ home stadiums and easier oversight of testing and coronavirus protocols, according to sources. Further, Triple-A teams travel via commercial airline, whereas major league teams can go from hotel to stadium to private flights on getaway days….Still, MLB’s belief that April is likely to be the most difficult month for COVID-19 concerns has not wavered since it tried to get the MLB Players Association to agree on a one-month delay to the season. The union rejected the idea. MLB’s control of the minor leagues allows unilateral implementation of policies.”