The entire sports world has been held hostage by the Coronavirus. Every sport is on hold until further notice. Some may not come back this year, while others are preparing to play shortened or abbreviated seasons. We still don’t know when or if sports, including baseball will return in 2020. The Coronavirus pandemic has affected every single aspect of society and life.
The latest development is that MLB hopes to resume play sometime in May with all 30 teams playing at one or two neutral stadiums in Arizona. The games would be played without fans in attendance, and all non-essential personal would be quarantined in hotels when not on the diamond. It’s an interesting proposal to try and get in as many games as possible and a way to start playing games without putting fans in jeopardy. This is all depending on the current crisis and the official recommendations from the CDC, and public health officials. It may not even be safe to have the players gather to play at all.
With no sports to watch, the online betting industry has also been affected. Without games to bet on, the betting institutes have to bet on other things. There hasn’t been any confirmation of when the MLB season will start and so sportsbooks don’t even have much odds posted online. Though, SBD is staying on top of what’s available despite how betting options are very limited now. Honestly, I can’t wait for sports to resume like normal.
But like I mentioned above, sportsbooks are adapting to this new game-less landscape by laying odds on things like how many games will MLB play in 2020? The over/under on the NFL season being delayed, and they’ve even begun putting odds on president Trump’s daily press briefings. Right now the current oddsmakers have the line at 105 games for the 2020 MLB season. Personally I would be just fine with a 105 game season. 105 games is better than no games. Of course this is all dependant on how the current epidemic plays out. Let’s hope we get to see Dodger baseball this year. How many games do you see MLB playing this season?
The over/under should be half a season, 82 games. If it has to be that few I’m guessing there will be those that say there should be no season. But they won’t be true fans.
My call would be health first (through gritted teeth!) because players are young men with young families and senior parents & in-laws in their lives. Play as many gam as possible that allows a shorter post season and World Series still wrapping in November, latest.
I believe if they can play 100 games they will be happy. And I think that is a target they feel they can hit. If they start in the middle of June, still 2 months off and plenty of time for the worst to pass, that would be a 3 1/2 month season. Mix in some double headers and they could hit 100 easily. One web site has become a casualty of the virus. LADodgertalk is shutting down. According to it’s administrator, the pressure of keeping the site going and trying to keep his business running smooth is just too much.,
Ah that’s a shame, Pedro and his Philes are shutting down. So there is one positive note from this virus.
New idea is 6 divisions of 5 teams each. 3 divisions in Florida, and 3 in Arizona. Dodgers would be in a division featuring Angels, A’s, Giants and Padres. Universal DH, electronic strike zones, and rosters of 30 players maybe. We will see how this plays out.
Wrong on who would be in the same division with the Dodgers. It would be the White Sox, Reds, Indians, and the Angels. The Angels are not as close as say, the Rangers or Royals or the Brewers. I think they threw them in there to get the rivalry between the franchises. Universal DH would be interesting as would the electronic strike zone. Players would sit in the stands so they would not be close to each other in the dugout. There go any high fives or hugging after a win.