Baseball should take lesson from NBA

BY ANTHONY OCCHIUTO

The baseball season has started but it hasn’t been smooth, to say the least.

MLB has had to postpone many games because of Covid-19 being spread in clubhouses and among teams around the league.

This is because the commissioner has not laid out the proper structure to allow for games to be played as scheduled and safely at the same time.  

Two organizations that have done it right are the NHL and the NBA. Especially the NBA.

They have created bubble locations for their players, and they are being tested every day before games are played and have not seen one issue pop up since both of their leagues reopened.

The MLB has failed day in and day out since the season began.

There has not been a week yet where the league has not cancelled games because of positive Covid-19 tests.

The one thing that makes this a tougher decision for the MLB is that it is the only sport that allows each stadium to create its own dimensions for the field.

This means teams build their rosters based on the shape of their stadiums, which makes it a lot tougher to agree to isolate at a generic baseball stadium.  

But you have to ask yourself, doesn’t the safety of the players and staff mean more than having teams playing in their home stadiums?

Without the players and staff members, there are no MLB games.

The MLB needs to pay close attention to these things, as new positive cases arise in the final half of the season. 

The MLB should consider moving to a bubble format before it is too late.

It is the only way the teams will be able to sustain safety protocols and create consistency throughout the league.