Major League Baseball, assessing myriad proposals, has discussed a radical plan that would eliminate the traditional American and National Leagues for 2020, a high-ranking official told USA TODAY Sports, and realign all six divisions for an abbreviated season. […] The plan would have all 30 teams returning to their spring training sites in Florida and Arizona, playing regular-season games only in those two states and without fans in an effort to reduce travel and minimize risks in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The divisions would be realigned based on the geography of their spring training homes. […] Financially, it could be a huge boon for the TV rights holders. You could have a captive TV audience the entire day. […] The DH would likely be universally implemented as well.
—Bob Nightengale [1], USA Today, April 10, 2020
“We will not have sporting events with fans until we have a vaccine,” says Zach Binney, a PhD in epidemiology who wrote his dissertation on injuries in the NFL and now teaches at Emory. Barring a medical miracle, the process of developing and widely distributing a vaccine is likely to take 12 to 18 months. […] O.K., but what about empty stadiums? “The idea of a quarantined sports league that can still go on sounds really good in theory,” says Binney. “But it’s a lot harder to pull off in practice than most people appreciate.”
—Stephanie Apstein [2], Sports Illustrated, April 10, 2020
Yes, we all need a room of our own.
—Billy Joel [3]
Seen the leagues go on hiatus
I saw the teams try quarantine
’Cause life went still across the USA
We all wore facial masks
And tried hard not to breathe
They schemed a scheme to restart playing
And broadcast content good to go
They shoved the DH in
Remade divisions
Like in MLB The Show [4]
I’ve seen the leagues go on hiatus
I saw no people in the seats
At first it sort of seemed to make some sense
We’d see it from our homes, just watching on TV
They opened parks around St. Lucie
Like stuck inside an endless March
No fans allowed in there
The owners didn’t care
They had some programming to stream
I’ve seen the leagues go on hiatus
I saw the Mets play ’til late fall
DeGrom and Ramos formed a battery
Robotics called the strikes
And electronic balls
They tried creating stringent guidelines
Confining most all personnel
They said cameras could stay
Shooed families away
Pretending all of this was swell
Our ancient leagues, before hiatus
Gave us the game we came to know
They didn’t haul the sport to Florida
And turn the stadiums into a studio
Perhaps soon we won’t remember
This awful godforsaken year
I hope that once we’re fine
Then we can take in nine
Where all can gather without fear