Add integrity of the game to the costs of trying to salvage the Major League Baseball and football seasons.
Its schedule already compressed because of …
Add integrity of the game to the costs of trying to salvage the Major League Baseball and football seasons. Its schedule already compressed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, outbreaks among the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals have forced MLB to give up all pretense that this season is equivalent to any other. A week in, it announced that seven-inning doubleheaders would be played to try and fit more games in. There’s talk playoff spots might be determined by winning percentages over an unequal number of games. And when the Marlins and Cardinals do resume play, they’ll need name tags because of all the taxi squad players needed to fill out the rosters. What’s next? A best-of-seven game of rock, paper, scissors to determine the World Series champion? Meanwhile, the Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC have conceded they can only play conference games this season. But given the threat of boycotts by Pac-12 players as well as the outbreak at Rutgers, what happens if a school can’t field a full team? Or has to shut down midway through the season? Is playing simply for the sake of playing worth it? The majority of Americans don’t think so. In a Harris poll that is to be released Wednesday,58% of respondents said MLB should stop the season because of the COVID outbreaks. That same percentage doubts MLB will be able to complete its abbreviated season. And in a stat that should give leaders in all sports pause,48 percent of the Harris respondents said watching sports now is much or somewhat more boring than it used to be. These are not existential questions.
