An addition to the roster
COVID-19 and Major League Baseball...
Today we have a prime example of the kind of goofy stuff cartoonists worry about: technically, baseball teams have clubhouses, not locker rooms, so the label on the door is technically incorrect.
But “clubhouse” is one word and wouldn’t fit in the space available, so I either had to make it two words (which would also be technically incorrect) or throw in a hyphen (which would be distracting).
“Locker room” was a better fit for the space available and I figured no sane person would give a crap – which lets you know exactly where I fit on the Sane-O-Meter spectrum – and since most people aren’t aware of the “locker room/clubhouse” distinction (including some ballplayers) I decided to go with the label that fit.
Let’s stop now before I start talking about the missing strawberries which is an obscure reference to Humphrey Bogart and “The Caine Mutiny” and doesn’t do anything to change the idea that I’m a banana or two short of a bunch.
Coronavirus concerns
About the time states started reopening, sports teams started talking about coming back and playing some kind of season that would either:
A. Help heal America’s broken heart or…
B. Make some money.
I guess you could do both at the same time, but the people who run baseball didn’t give a crap about America’s heart when they let players shoot steroids into their ass so they could break home run records, sell tickets and make everybody money. That being the case, I’m thinking playing some kind of season has a lot more to do with B than A.
When the players agreed to a 60-game season they were assured that precautions would be taken to keep them safe. A long list of safety protocols were theoretically put in place.
But on Monday, several teams cancelled their workouts because they didn’t get their COVID-19 test results back on time and it turns out they didn’t get them on time because FedEx doesn’t work over 4th of July; something the people that run baseball called “unforeseeable” so I guess nobody looked at a calendar.
Among others, Washington Nationals GM Mike Rizzo said the people in charge needed to get their shit together and according to the Washington Post, Rob Manfred – Commissioner of Major League Baseball – decided to “jump on” Rizzo for his comments.
In that case, Manfred better be ready to do a lot of jumping because Rizzo isn’t the only one saying MLB needs to do a better job if they want to play baseball. Things are going to get even tougher when teams start traveling, mingling with other teams and umpire crews and the people necessary to play a baseball game and do a baseball telecast.
Let’s end this with an appropriate comment from Chicago Cubs third baseman, Kris Bryant:
“If we can’t nail the easy part – which is right now just our players – we have a big problem.”
Couldn’t have said it better myself, so I won’t even try.