While there’s no set timeline for a 2020 Major League Baseball season, there appears to be growing optimism that it’ll be possible to safely play at some point this summer. If so, the sport would surely offer a welcome distraction for those still at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And in Scott Boras’ view, baseball could also offer a roadmap back to action for other industries across North America.
“I believe that Major League Baseball should lead,” the veteran baseball agent told Donnovan Bennett and Richard Deitsch on the Sports on Pause podcast. “We need leadership through this virus. We have front-line medical workers working. We have doctors working. We have people in the grocery store working. People at gas stations working. We have all of our police and fire and emergency systems all working. We have media working. Everyone is working. So we’re talking about this.
“We need to show everyone that employees and employers can safely return a group of employees to work.”
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For the season to resume, endless logistical questions would have to be answered, including the availability of testing, the best locations for games, contingency plans for positive tests within the sport and the 2020 schedule. It would all begin with the resumption of spring training and on that front, Boras recommends bringing pitchers and catchers to camp 10 days before position players and keeping the two groups separate for as long as possible.
Regardless of the details, the agent hopes to see baseball back soon.
“By illustrating that leadership, we’re doing back what President (Franklin) Roosevelt did when we had World War II,” Boras said. “We want baseball. Why? Because it brings normalcy.”
Within the episode, Boras also shares some of the most common questions he gets from his clients, explains why he believes MLB games should be played exclusively in major-league parks and weighs in on the mental challenges facing athletes on the sidelines.
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