By Evan Weiner |
Major League Baseball has made it to the World Series. At times during the season, there was a question as to whether there would be a World Series or even a season because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But MLB staggered through the season and the playoffs to get to its crown jewel event.
What happens next? How is the 2021 season looking? At this point, without a COVID-19 containment national strategy no one knows what is next. The Toronto Blue Jays organization could not stage any home games because the Canadian government decided it was too risky to have Blue Jays personnel fly back and forth to the United States. The US-Canadian border remains closed except for essential business and there is no indication when it might reopen. Canada is also having a widespread COVID-19 outbreak at the moment. Major League Baseball spring training sites are in Arizona and Florida. The Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has opened professional sports facilities for customers to watch games but Florida has seen a jump in COVID-19 cases and while spring training is months away that news is not good for anyone.
Major League Baseball has to figure out how exactly the minor leagues will function in 2021. MLB is taking over running research and development and has lopped off teams in an effort to control the minor league money spigot and dole out less money for players. But the real problem is getting a COVID-19 collective bargaining agreement with the players for 2021. There were some points in 2020 where neither the players nor the owners showed much interest in getting an agreement to play a COVID-19 impacted season. The owners and players cannot assume that 2021 will be business as usual. There could be a vaccine available along with COVID-19 illness treatments but nothing is guaranteed. Just like the 2021 season.
This article was republished with permission from the original publisher, Evan Weiner.