Not when every Major League ball park is devoid of fans. Not when cardboard cutouts occupy seats behind home plate at Dodger Stadium and atop the Green Monster at Fenway Park. Not when yards of fabric shroud sections of empty grandstand. Not when management pipes in crowd noise. Not when Dave O’Brien, Dennis Eckersley and Jerry Remy, the Red Sox television triumvirate, call the action at Fenway from their NESN studio six miles from the press box. Not when TV cameramen have no crowd shots, no attractive women, no kids to focus on, just empty seats.
Not when the season starts in mid-summer instead of early spring. Not when the 162-game season is reduced to 60 games, less than half. Not when hours before the first pitch in the Yankees-Nationals opener last Thursday management and the players union agree to expand the playoffs to 16 teams from 10, more than half the 30 teams in the big leagues. Not when what used to be the National Pastime now looks like the NBA or NHL.
Baseball is back, but not really.
Not when the Toronto Blue Jays can’t play their home games at the Rogers Centre in Toronto because the Canadian government fears border crossings from so many hot spots in the pandemic-ridden United States that it instituted a 14-day quarantine for U.S. teams entering Canada. Not when the Blue Jays call Sahlen Field in Buffalo, home of their Triple A affiliate, their summer home this year.
Not when social distancing occurs in the dugout. Not when players wear masks. Not when spitting, as much a part of baseball as peanuts and Cracker Jack, is banned. Not when managers and umpires six feet apart argue from behind masks.
Baseball is back, but not really.
Not when the COVID-19 List is more important than the Disabled List. Not when the Florida Marlins home opener Monday night against the Orioles is postponed because 12 players and two coaches, as reported by ESPN and other news outlets, tested positive during and after the weekend series in Philadelphia. Not when the Yankees-Phillies game Monday night is called off. Not when the streets around Fenway Park on game day are empty. Not when the Minor League season is cancelled.
Baseball is back, but only for die-hard fans, sports writers and talk show hosts, and those who find made-for-television sports better than nothing. For the rest of us, baseball is back, but not really.
