Skip to main content

Yankees and Nationals Could Headline Baseball's Return

Imagine an Opening Day between the New York Yankees and defending World Series Champion Washington Nationals.

Gerrit Cole on the bump for the Bombers against Max Scherzer.  What a match-up! What a way to start a season! The only question is ... will it happen?

Even with baseball and the Players Union agreeing this week to initiate an agreement they already had in place months ago to play a 60-game season starting July 24, the thought of Yankees-Nationals right now still feels like a fantasy.

With the Coronavirus wrecking havoc across the country, and baseball -- fully aware that more of its players and employees could contract the disease, these next three weeks until baseball does "return" is going to be like walking a tight rope.

Everyone wants to see baseball return. Everyone wants something fun to watch. We want to return to normalcy as soon as possible. But as we are reminded everyday, these are not normal times. Social and racial tensions aside, playing through the Coronavirus - which doesn't care what side of the political spectrum you fall on -- is going to be an extremely difficult endeavor for the sport of baseball to manage.

There are a lot of variables and questions involved. Nobody knows what the answers are, and not many know how moving hundreds of people (players, team personnel, media) across the country during an every growing pandemic is going to work. It may work. It may not work at all.

The Texas Rangers for example got word today that they have employees at their new ballpark who contracted the virus, and the players are understandably nervous.

If there is a season come July 24, and that is still an "if" a Yankees-Nationals opening day match-up would be tremendous fun, must see TV, and an opener that should it happen, could be the successful re-launch the sport desperately needs after months of acrimony between the owners and players.

Let's cross our fingers.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Jets, Dolphins and Patriots Playoff Breakdown

Here are the formuli that could get the Jets into and out of the playoff party this season: 1) If the Jets win against Seattle and Miami, they win the AFC East based on a better conference record (8-4) than the New England Patriots, even if New England wins out as well. 2) If the Patriots win out and the Dolphins win out and finish at 11-5, the Jets would be 10-6, or 9-7, and probably out of the playoffs. Both New England and Miami would make the playoffs, with the Dolphins as a divison winner and the Patriots as a wild card. The Patriots make the postseason if Baltimore loses one of its final two games. 3) If the Patriots win out and the Dolphins and Jets split, then the Patriots win the AFC East. The Jets will have to hope that they beat Miami to win that tie-breaker and, further, hope that they have a better conference record than the Baltimore Ravens in order to clinch the sixth seed. 4) If the Patriots and Ravens win out and the Dolphins and Jets split their final two games, then ...

Francisco Lindor Remains Red Hot as Mets Top Phillies

 Francisco Lindor remains the hottest player in Queens right now.  The Mets shortstop blasted two more home runs, including a three-run blast in the bottom of the eighth inning, Monday night to help propel the Mets to a 5-4 win over Philadelphia.   Lindor who typically struggles in the month of April is putting together a heck of a month. Monday's two hit effort was the 10th game in the last 11 where Lindor has recorded a hit. In fact in the month of April alone this year, Lindor was hitting at .311 coming into Monday's action.  On the year, Lindor is batting .284 with five homers and 13 RBI.  Lindor's efforts proved to be prophetic, as the Phillies Alec Bohm crushed a three-run bomb off Edwin Diaz in the top of the ninth to cut the Mets lead to a single run. Fortunately for New York, Diaz was able to shut the door with strikeouts of Trea Turner and Bryce Harper.  New York (16-7) has now won five in a row.  

Mets Keep Rolling into Phillies Series

 The New York Mets are feeling pretty good about things right now!  The Amazin's swept a four game series from the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday, winning 7-4 Sunday afternoon. It was the first time since 1986 that the Amazin's had swept such a series from St. Louis. We all know what happened later that season.    Well, not to get too far ahead of ourselves, because the 2025 version now faces a very stiff challenge. The Mets will face their arch rivals the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday with only two games separating the two teams in the NL East.  The Mets took out Philly in the NLDS last October, so this figures to be a heck of showdown. The Mets begin a month long stretch against teams that are likely postseason contenders like the Phillies, D-Backs, Cubs, Yankees, Red Sox, and Dodgers.  If the Mets (15-7) are this good, we will know for sure in a month.