The Houston Astros were warned. As MLB gets its season underway, currently holding exhibition games ahead of the launch of the regular season, teams are facing off on the diamond, and certain Astros players are finding out that no one has forgotten the cheating scandal that rocked the team – and the entire league – last year. As the team took the field on Tuesday to play against the Kansas City Royals, a few players were probably wishing they had worn additional padding as they became targets of “errant” pitches coming from the mound. 

There have been rumors of possible retaliation coming for months, and the coronavirus hasn’t done much to help certain players forget the past. Talk of pitchers taking revenge as Astros players stepped up to the plate even resulted in odds being posted, and William Hill had, at one point, an over/under of 83.5 on the number of players expected to get pelted by a pitch. The MLB average for “accidental” hits is around 66.

In yesterday’s game against the Royals, three Astros players were targets of baseballs that, for some reason (sarcasm), couldn’t be delivered straight over home plate. Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman and George Springer were hit by two Royals pitchers – Jackson Kowar and Jorge Lopez – with both Altuve and Bregman becoming targets with the bases loaded. Based on a video uploaded to Twitter of the events, none of the players was seriously hurt (getting hit by a baseball is never a pleasant experience), but the message was still delivered. Altuve took a pitch to his right forearm and Bregman received one that looks to have been aiming for his gut. 

The Astros franchise has already suffered because of the scandal, which reportedly involved illegally filming the opposition, and had to pay a fine, as well as lose several key draft picks. The team’s manager and general manager, A.J. Hinch and Jeff Luhnow, respectively, were let go, but no player was ever held responsible. That has led other league teams to promise to levy their own punishment and, as the new MLB season gets underway, they seem ready to deliver. 

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

The 2020 Major League Baseball season was to begin March 26, but the coronavirus changed all that. Nearly four months late, the 60-game regular season starts Thursday night with two ESPN nationally televised games: New York Yankees at Washington Nationals (7 p.m. ET) and San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers (10 p.m. ET). Play ball!

The Nationals won their first-ever World Series title last October and in normal circumstances would raise their championship banner at Nationals Park and hand out World Series rings to players before the season opener, but GM Mike Rizzo has said neither will happen until fans are allowed in the stands – and that’s almost surely not going to be the case until 2021.

Until late last week, it wasn’t even a sure thing the Nats were going to be able to play at Nationals Park due to strict coronavirus protocols in DC, but they have been cleared to do so. Washington actually lost all three home games in last year’s World Series yet still beat Houston in seven.

Just because baseball fans aren’t allowed to attend MLB games in person doesn’t mean they still can’t be seen at the games. Because of the coronavirus, MLB, and all other sports leagues, have decided that allowing fans to grab a seat at the games wouldn’t be a smart idea. This means considerable losses in revenue, as on-field advertising loses its purpose and concessionaires can’t sell their goods. However, teams across the MLB have come up with a novel, out-of-the-box solution that will allow fans to be seen at the games while, at the same time, recovering some of the lost revenue. Welcome to the world of fan cutouts. 

The idea emerged earlier this month and has since caught the attention of several teams, including the San Francisco Giants, the LA Dodgers, the Milwaukee Brewers and more. The concept is simple – fans can submit a picture, pay a fee and the team will build a cardboard cutout of the fan to be placed in a seat during games. Each team has its own procedures and policies, but, for some fans, they will even be able to keep their cutouts and, should their virtual self be hit by a foul ball, will be sent a game ball as a keepsake. 

Prices range drastically, some as low as $49 and some as high as $299. Just like with most ballparks, the difference in price depends on where the fan wants to be seated. Other clubs are restricting the sales to only season-ticket holders. The money generated from the sales could be substantial, too. The response has already high and, to use Oracle Park as an example, the return could be substantial. The home of the Giants has 41,915 seats; if it sold half of these at $50 (season-ticket holders get them for free), it could pick up over $1.04 million. That certainly isn’t enough to offset all the losses incurred by the lack of having beer-guzzling, popcorn-munching fans in the stands, but it’s better than nothing. 

The Brewers are taking a slightly different approach. The team will place two-foot images of fans together with the “Last Row” statue of Bob Uecker located at the top of Miller Park. Uecker has been a game-caller for the club for 50 years and has been around baseball almost as long as the game itself. The cutouts cost $50, and the promotion sold out almost as soon as it was launched. 

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

The 2020 Major League Baseball 60-game regular season will begin July 23/24 after commissioner Rob Manfred unilaterally implemented a schedule of his choosing Monday and the MLB Players’ Association signed off on the health and safety protocols Tuesday. Spring training 2.0 will open next week in teams’ own cities.

Frankly, both owners and the union come out of this three-month stalemate looking horrible from a public relations standpoint, but at least there will be some semblance of a season. It would end on September 27 as originally planned and the postseason field would remain at 10 teams.

Owners had hoped for a postseason expansion to 16 teams, but the two sides couldn’t come to an overall agreement so Manfred used his power to set the schedule. AL East teams will play games only inside the division and against NL East opponents. NL Central vs. NL Central and AL Central, etc. This is to help limit travel as much as possible. Teams will play 40 games inside their division and 20 interleague matchups.

If it weren’t for the fact that this is a serious breach of public trust, the continued – and exasperating – situation regarding the restart of MLB in the US would be laughable. Players and owners have spent the past two months lobbing proposals back and forth, each one rejected as soon as it lands in the opponent’s territory. Last week saw the possibility of a 2020 season slip even further out of reach, and another step backward has now been taken. A potential agreement was apparently in the works before team owners decided to scratch through several items on the list, forcing the MLB Players Association (MLBPA) to scrap a planned vote and start all over – again.

An idea had been floated to play a 60-game season and it had received a relatively acceptable response – lukewarm, at best, but this is better than what had been seen to date. However, Commissioner Rob Manfred scribbled in some changes, according to ESPN, and the MLBPA was forced to delay the vote until all the points could be considered.

Manfred said in a letter to MLBPA Executive Director Tony Clark, which was apparently intercepted by the Associated Press, “Tony, am writing to reiterate what I told you on the phone a few minutes ago. Given the Covid developments, I understand that the players are concerned that the 2020 season will be truncated beyond the agreed upon number of games (for example, we agree to play 60 and can only play 40). If that were to happen, I would be prepared to eliminate the 2021 components of the deal. That would mean that we would not get the expanded playoffs in 2021 and the DH rule would revert to the current rule (DH in AL, no DH in NL).”

The MLBPA executive board was ready to get to work and vote on a proposal this weekend. Saturday was going to be a good day for baseball, once the union took a closer look at reports that new coronavirus cases have been seen. The board intended to take a vote yesterday, but Manfred threw a monkey wrench into those plans when he sent Clark his email with the proposed changes. The commissioner added, “I think I have previously agreed to give you full termination pay for players who were salary arbitration eligible in 2019, are on non guaranteed [sic] contracts and are terminated in spring training. Those players would get the numbers of days of termination pay equal to the number of games we agree to play, subject to the repayment of salary advances.”

If you ask him, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred will tell you that the meeting he had in Arizona Tuesday with the head of the MLB Players Association (MLBPA), Tony Clark, was “productive.” If you hit Clark with the same question, you might get a completely different answer. MLB team owners and players have been battling for two months as they try to figure out how to get players back on the field, and they’re no closer to a resolution now than they were then. Manfred invited Clark to a sit-down yesterday to try to hash out an amicable, mutually-beneficial plan of attack, but no one should expect a miracle.

Manfred issued a statement yesterday, explaining, “At my request, Tony Clark and I met for several hours yesterday in Phoenix. We left that meeting with a jointly developed framework that we agreed could form the basis of an agreement and subject to conversations with our respective constituents. I summarized that framework numerous times in the meeting and sent Tony a written summary today. Consistent with our conversations yesterday, I am encouraging the Clubs to move forward and I trust Tony is doing the same.”

Rumors of the success of the meeting had begun to circulate before Manfred published his comments. The MLBPA got wind of them and wanted to cut them off at the knees. It tweeted ahead of Manfred’s statement, “Reports of an agreement are false.”

As before in the ongoing negotiations, both sides are standing their ground, unwilling to make any type of major concession. Owners want players to agree to salary cuts of as much as 80% for some players, and players want owners to get stuffed. Manfred said after Tuesday’s meeting that he was happy with the outcome and that a proposal would be coming. Clark, on the other hand, said that there were “significant issues” with Manfred’s recommendations and that no tentative agreement had been reached. 

MLB was thrown a curveball when the coronavirus forced the professional baseball league to call off the 2020 season just ahead of its big Opening Day this past March. Since then, team owners and players have been caught up in a virtual tennis match to get the season restarted, lobbing plans back and forth that neither side wants to approve. While they continue to battle it out, potentially closing in on an amicable, acceptable plan, the MLB Draft is taking place. However, it isn’t anywhere close to where it should have been and only five rounds – out of the normal 40 – are being held. Next season, only 20 rounds will be held.

The reduction in rounds means that a lot of aspiring professional baseball players won’t get their chance anytime soon. It’s safe to say that even those who have been selected may not get their chance if team owners and players can’t reach an agreement. This means that players like third baseman Spencer Torkelson out of Arizona State and outfielder Heston Kjerstad out of Arkansas can only wait around to see what happens. Torkelson was picked up as the first pick in the draft and is going to the Detroit Tigers, while Kjerstad, who wasn’t a top favorite for the draft, is on his way to the Baltimore Orioles. Shortstop Austin Martin from Vanderbilt had been highly considered to be the second pick in the draft, but ended up going to the Toronto Blue Jays as the fifth selection.

Now, the new selections and existing players can only wait to see what happens next. There exists a possibility that a deal to resume games could be reached before the end of this weekend, but anything is possible. According to Colin Cowherd of Fox Sports and his own Live on The Herd radio broadcast, “I was told last night by a source that I trust inside baseball that they’re close. My prediction is that the MLS will start July 8th, and that baseball will start July 10th. I’m going to make a prediction that in 48 hours – this is from a source up the ladder – that we will have a resolution and be on our way. I’m going all in on this, there will be around 75-80 games. The owners want to wrap up the regular season by September 27th, and they do not want to play in November. The owners have no interest, and are worried about a second wave of the virus. Frankly, they don’t want to play in crappy weather either… By 10:35 PT on Saturday, we will have a deal done.”

However, there is still a lot that needs to be done. Should the two sides fail to reach an agreement, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has the authority to establish how many games would be played to allow the 2020 season to run its course. If it comes to that, a number of players have already stated that they are prepared to boycott and will sit the season out. Even league executives aren’t entirely optimistic, with one telling USA TODAY Sports, “If we don’t get an agreement real soon, this is going to be ugly. Real ugly. And it’s just going to get worse.’’

Reports started to surface yesterday, reportedly from baseball insiders, that MLB might start Spring Training 2 sometime next month. One story was presented that had training reactivating on June 10, with Opening Day being held on July 1. However, this is apparently not the case, and there is not yet any definitive timeframe to get baseball players back on the field.

Trevor Plouffe tweeted this past Monday, “… I just heard from multiple sources that on June 10th, Spring Training 2 will start. July 1st will be Opening Day and all teams will be playing at their home ballparks…” It would circulate for about a day before being debunked by Jon Heyman, who said that league sources were still busy talking to health officials and politicians, and that no date had yet been established.

That resonates with statements coming out of the MLB Player’s Association. The group’s boss, Tony Clark, explained to ESPN that players definitely want to play, but only once it is considered safe enough for players, staff and everyone else to share close quarters and spaces with others. He added that the league hadn’t shared any plans with the union, stating, “Despite all that has been floated and all the rhetoric that is out there, we have not received anything formal that details an actual plan.”

The first step to seeing baseball again is to ensure that there won’t be any health risks associated with the games. This could mean reducing the number of fields where games are played, as well as changing salaries because of a potentially shorter season. These issues, and others, have to be worked out before any concrete plan can be put on the table. Clark adds, “As these ideas find their way into mainstream media, there are some ideas that seem to make sense, there are others that don’t track very well. All of them are being viewed against the backdrop of getting back on the field and affording our guys an opportunity to do what they love to do. At this point, it’s unfortunate that there are things that keep finding their way into the conversation and are being represented as proposals when they aren’t.”