Major League Baseball Moves Opening Day Again in Order to Battle COVID-19

The conversation around COVID-19 and its repercussions on American life needs to be refreshed.  Many of us are out here wondering what our country can do for us and not what we can do for our country.  Remember, we are in this together when it’s all said and done.

The federal government, under the guidance of President Donald Trump, will be working to ease the economic pressure of the coming isolation, but in order to make sure the length of this nuisance is a manageable one, we will need to do our part as well – no matter how many baseball games we will miss.

Major League Baseball pushed back opening day until mid-May at the earliest on Monday because of the new coronavirus after the federal government recommended restricting events of more than 50 people for the next eight weeks.

Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred made the announcement following a conference call with executives of the 30 teams.

“The clubs remain committed to playing as many games as possible when the season begins,” the commissioner’s office said in a statement.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Sunday that gatherings of 50 people or more be canceled or postponed across the country for the next eight weeks.

MLB called off the rest of the spring training schedule on Thursday and said opening day, which had been scheduled for March 26, was postponed for at least two weeks. Teams and players agree that two to four weeks of additional spring training will be needed before the regular season begins.

Television network PBS has responded to this suspension of the national pastime in the perfect manner:  Providing free streaming of Ken Burns’ seminal Baseball documentary series.