While there’s still no concrete direction for baseball in the United States, the idea that the game is gaining steam in other parts of the world deems promising for many fans on American soil.
According to Jeff Todd at MLBTR, Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League is preparing to welcome fans into the league’s stadiums.
Todd noted that the CPBL became the first professional baseball league to resume activities since the COVID-19 pandemic halted play around across the globe. He explained that the league remains a clear success story, with no indication that play has interfered with efforts to protect the health and welfare of participants or the broader public.
As far as the specifics go, up to 1000 fans will be permitted entry to each CPBL game beginning on May 8.
CPBL management has stated that the league will indeed comply with recommendations by the Center for Disease Control with regards to fan attendance. Those recommendations include all ticket holders needing to provide their real name, fans practicing social distancing at games, fans being required to wear masks at games, and the league having temperature screening devices at the gates of the stadiums.
Consequently, the Korean Baseball Organization has resumed play. While we reported last week that ESPN and the KBO were close to a deal involving broadcast rights, that deal has indeed been completed. ESPN began airing games during the overnight on Monday, the same day the league re-opened.
The plan is for the network to air six KBO games per week, with most of them being broadcast on ESPN2.
A full primer outlining many highlights of Korean baseball can be found on the ESPN website.
As these activities around the globe do not necessarily dictate that the MLB will follow suit, it does provide at least a little support that fans in America could conceivably see some baseball this year after all.
One important thing to remember, as Todd indicates, is that Taiwan and South Korea’s success surrounding baseball’s recommencement has come after nearly “stomping out” the coronavirus completely. Seemingly, there’s still a long way to go to seeing such progress in the States.
In other news, super-agent Scott Boras published a somewhat politically flavored op-ed in the New York Times on Monday, recommending that the MLB “return the players to spring training-style camps as soon as possible.” The idea would be for MLB to take steps now to lead into a season that would provide fans with a “sense of hope and normalcy.”
Think Blue Planning Committee 
Dennis, what’s so politically flavored about his piece? He just wants baseball to return safely. Don’t we all as fans?
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I don’t think his story necessarily has any political overtones, but the moment you mention President Trump, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Lori Lightfoot of Chicago in a piece chiefly about baseball, you’re definitely flipping a political switch, at least in the perspective created by the reader.
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If it was me, I think I’d say something like “national leaders,” mainly because it paints less of a political picture. Like everyone always says here, baseball is probably better off with the least amount of politics as possible, as it is one of the few thinks left in our country that doesn’t have a strong presence of political partisanship.
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Amen to that Dennis.
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Derangement is never a good thing, in any context. Get a grip, people! Yeah, I’m sure I will get ripped for stating the obvious, but geez people, shake yourselves! Some of you would vote No on Yes.
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I think we all agree that derangement isn’t a good thing IJDM. The discussion seems to center on the definition of derangement.
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Unfortunately, in this time and place, politics filter into everything. As for Boras, he is who he is. He has pretty strong opinions on most everything. He is the most powerful agent in baseball. I sometimes think he goes way over board in what he seeks for his clients, but the owners always fold.
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Interesting article on yahoo today. Named the most over rated player from each team. Some of them would surprise you. Most over rated Dodger….Fernando. Great his first 6 years, and mediocre the rest of his Dodger career.
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Hope you all are holding up well. I have been busy helping a friend move……my least favorite thing in the world, but I have the unfortunate pleasure of owning a pickup truck so I am elected. Things seem to be loosening up here. A lot more people out and about over the last few days. I think the weather has a lot to do with that. It has been gorgeous here. Yesterday I saw 4 does and a couple of fawns in a park down the block from me. Gotta love wildlife that comes right to your neighborhood.
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Not to be negative but how bad is it going to suck if we traded 2 of our top prospects away and never get to see Betts in Dodger blue if he signs elsewhere next year? I don’t even want to imagine it.
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Shame on you Alex. Mookie is going to sign here and then AF is going to trade Yadier Alvarez to the Sox for Verdugo and Downs. Not to worry. EGBOK (Everything’s Gonna Be OK).
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Good to hear from you, Alex. I actually thought of you when things started to get hairy down there around NOLA.
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All good man work has just been crazy. We are definitely in the hot zone down here, it’s kind of like the twilight zone with so much shut down. If a 30 foot wall of water from Katrina didn’t kill us then a little Chinese virus doesn’t stand a chance!
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Couple of things Alex. First, he is not going to command the kind of deal he could have gotten had this season been played in it’s entirety. The crisis is playing hell with the profits that could have been made and many teams are not financially as stable as the Dodgers. Hard to walk away from a winning culture. And the Dodger have been just that. Most of their up and coming players are young, and more on the way. Verdugo had a good year, and Downs happens to play a position where the Dodgers are loaded with talent. But Verdugo was missing when they needed him the most, and the Dodgers were not too happy with the way he was rehabbing and the fact that he never seemed to be making progress. Betts is a proven commodity, Verdugo is merely a player with less than a full season under his belt, and a lot of potential. Downs was at AA and AAA. And is not really ready for primetime yet.
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MLB says some kind of announcement coming next week. Some teams have alerted players to be ready. Not sure what that all means, but, before anything gets settled, they are going to have to come to an agreement about pay. MLB wants the players to take a pro rated salary, not sure the union is going to buy into that.
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MLB.com had a list of each teams best CF ever. The Duke got the nod for the Dodgers, as did his two contemporary’s for their teams, Mays and Mantle. 2 players, Tris Speaker, and Steve Finley got the nod on 2 teams. Finley with the D-Backs and Padres, and Speaker with the Indians, and Red Sox. No real surprises except maybe Josh Hamilton being the pick on the Rangers.
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MLB has officially decided on a 5 round draft on June 10th.
For guys who go undrafted there will be a limit of 20K per signing. Any of the guys who would have gone in rounds 6-10 are very unlikely to settle for that kind of signing bonus.
I think this is going to be rough for MLB to police. I’m thinking there will be some rule bending and who better to twist a rule without breaking it than our hero, Andrew Friedman.
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I’m not sure if I understand why it’s only a five round draft, give me some help here Jeff.
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It was either going to be 5 or 10 rounds. Players union wanted 10, obviously, so more guys would be drafted. Teams wanted 5 because it would mean they could spend substantially less money, not drafting those 5 extra players each. I don’t know what the set amount is for rounds 6-10 is but it adds up and, of course, the teams are dealing with huge losses of revenue this year.
Both sides were negotiating but couldn’t come to an agreement so apparently Manfred has the power to unilaterally decide on his own, and since he’s basically the owners’ guy, he decided on 5 rounds.
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Little Richard died today at 87 years old. Fun to watch and a real character. Turner was lamenting the fact that if they do not play, his possible last games as a Dodger would have come in a crushing playoff loss.
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