Major League Baseball is mulling a creative way to confront the coronavirus by radically altering the usual baseball schedule to play the whole 2020 season in just two states; Arizona and Florida.
Instead of the common alignment including the American League East and West, and the National League East, Central, and West, MLB is considering organizing a one-time “Grapefruit League” in Florida and a “Cactus League” out of Arizona USA Today reported.
Instead of the teams facing their usual regional rivals, they will instead play each other based on where their spring training facilities are. In other words, the teams with training facilities in each state will face off against each other regardless of what region they play in during non-coronavirus times. Then, once those rounds are played, the winner of the Arizona league will advance to a World Series against the winner of the Florida league teams.
The proposal has not yet been approved, but if implemented, it would offer some unique matchups — especially early in the season — that has never been seen before. Gone will be the old rivalries as the teams face new opponents.
The suggested realignment reported by the paper is as follows:
GRAPEFRUIT LEAGUE (Florida)
NORTH: New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Toronto Blue Jays, Detroit Tigers, Pittsburgh Pirates.
SOUTH: Boston Red Sox, Minnesota Twins, Atlanta Braves, Tampa Bay Rays, Baltimore Orioles.
EAST: Washington Nationals, Houston Astros, New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals, Miami Marlins.
CACTUS LEAGUE (Arizona)
NORTHEAST: Chicago Cubs, San Francisco Giants, Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, Oakland Athletics.
WEST: Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Los Angeles Angels.
NORTHWEST: Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, Kansas City Royals.
“When you’re trying to get really creative, why say no now?” Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa said after hearing the plan. “So you have a unique season. I’ve got no problem with that.
“I’m not sure we’ll be able play in our own cities across the country, so if you split it up like that, it’s a possibility,” he added.
“Baseball, even with the realignment, could still play 12 games apiece against their new divisional opponents and six games apiece against the other teams in the state,” USA Today noted. “There would be at least one doubleheader a night when all teams are scheduled to play because of the odd number of teams in each state.”
Still, MLB has not yet announced its final plan. Another suggested plan for 2020 included playing the entire season exclusively in Arizona. So, ideas are still being bounced around.
“There are so many workable possibilities,” La Russa told the paper, “why give up on any alternative until it’s clear it can’t work?
“What we can’t do is give up,” he concluded.
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