Opening day, finally.
A baseball season that was on the brink before it started due to the virus outbreak will begin Thursday night when Max Scherzer and World Series champion Washington Nationals welcome prized ace Gerrit Cole and the New York Yankees. York.
When it starts, the DC forecast calls for thunderstorms, the latest rocky entry in this game of what can go wrong, it will mark the strangest year in Major League history.
A 60 game season, the stars choose not to participate. Ball parks without fans, players with masks. Tubed sound effects, cardboard cutouts for spectators. Spray painted ads on the mound, jars with bags of personal rosin.
And a rack of strange rules. DH in the National League, well that’s fine. An automatic runner in the second to start the tenth inning? Let’s go now.
“God, it’s going to be fun,” said Cole. “It’s going to have a false noise from the crowd, and it’s going to be Coronavirus 2020 baseball.
Plus, a poignant reminder of the world we live in. A Black Lives Matter template can be placed on mounds throughout the majors during opening weekend.
And there’s still a team that doesn’t know where it’s going to play: shut out of Toronto due to health issues, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Blue Jays hoped to land in Pittsburgh or Baltimore or Buffalo or elsewhere.
“This is baseball 2020,” said Scherzer.
For many fans, that will do. There is no other option, really. Four months after games were supposed to start, a strange ball is better than no ball, right?
We’ll see.
Opening day brings a tasty double game: a pitching matchup in Washington, followed by the night cup at Dodger Stadium when star outfielder Mookie Betts, fresh out of a $ 365 million 12-year contract, and his new teammates. Los Angeles teammates face the San Francisco Giants. .
Clayton Kershaw, a Dodgers player, will not face: six-time All-Star, three-time champion and former MVP Buster Posey. The Giants catcher and his wife have adopted identical twins who were born prematurely, and he is among a dozen players who have chosen to sit this year.
“From a baseball point of view, it was a difficult decision for me,” Posey said. “From a family point of view, making the decision to protect the children, our children, was relatively easy.”
Dodgers pitcher David Price, Washington infielder Ryan Zimmerman and Atlanta outfielder Nick Markakis are also sitting.
Other players won’t be ready for the weekend: On Wednesday, the Royals announced that Hunter Dozier (26 home runs, 10 triples) had tested positive for the virus and was on the disabled list.
For those who are healthy, it is time to play. For how long, with the virus imminent, we will find out soon.
Something that will be confirmed by the first pitch: how many teams will make the playoffs. A decision must be made by then after renewed talks about expanding the postseason pitch.
Throwing the first ball in the National Park to start a COVID-19 schedule will be Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease expert.
“I used to play baseball when I was a kid,” Fauci, 79, told CNN. “I hope I don’t bounce too much.”
Don’t worry, doc. Even before the first release, this season he has already handled many bad jumps.
“I think it will be exciting for fans who are big fans of each team, but I think it will be emotional for sports fans to be able to see the return of baseball,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone.
Elsewhere around the bases this year:
SOCIAL JUSTICE
MLB players have traditionally not been as outspoken as those in the NFL and NBA on social issues. Until this year, former Oakland wide receiver Bruce Maxwell was the only baseball player to kneel before the national anthem; He did it in 2017 and felt it cost him a future place in the majors.
Giants new manager Gabe Kapler and several of his players knelt during the national anthem before an exhibition game this week. A group of reds did the same in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
“I wanted them to know that I was not satisfied with the way our country has handled police brutality, and I told them that I wanted to amplify their voices and that I also wanted to amplify the voice of the black community and marginalized communities,” he said. Kapler, among 10 managers starting new jobs.
Yankees star Aaron Judge: “That is the beauty of the United States, it is freedom of expression and freedom of expression.”
“We have a special platform to be athletes and to be able to say what we think and say what is happening in this world. Some people express it online. Some people express it in words. Some people kneel down, ”he said.
MLB players can put a “Black Lives Matter” or “United For Change” patch on a jersey sleeve on opening day.
Masked men
Didi Gregorius and Clint Frazier participated in exhibition games while wearing masks; They are not mandatory in the field, but there are many other rules and guidelines.
Social distancing on the bench. Jump by throwing the ball around the infield after strikeouts. Keep Phillie Phanatic and pets off the field.
The five do not collide either. Not a problem, Phillies slugger Bryce Harper said.
“I think the air hits all five and it will be the best in baseball again this year and the best in sports,” he said.
Still, there are plenty of protocols to keep in mind for players who have been doing things the same way since they were kids.
“Is it going to be perfect the first day?” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “Probably not.”
BOO WHO?
All those screams and whistles that the Houston Astros heard in March are gone. Some fans will claim that the boys who participated in that poster-stealing scam are coming off easy, without feeling the wrath of the crowds along the way.
MLB has issued severe warnings against any basebrawling this year. Still, some Houston hitters might feel a small payoff: Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman and George Springer were hit by pitches Tuesday night in Kansas City during the Astros’ final set-up.
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