WJZ's Mark Viviano: Shortened MLB Season 'Hurts The Orioles'
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Major League Baseball is in the midst of figuring out what the 2020 season will look like. The coronavirus pandemic has pushed the season back nearly a month already and it seems unlikely the Boys of Summer will take the field any time soon.
There have been several reported plans considered. One involves taking all 30 teams to Arizona and playing out the full season in the desert with players, team officials and staff in hotels isolated from fans and families. Another would see the teams return to their respective Spring Training facilities, replace the National and American Leagues, and play things out based on whether teams are in the Grapefruit (Florida) or Cactus (Arizona) leagues.
Neither of those proposals really speaks to WJZ sports anchor Mark Viviano. While he understands that getting the sport back on television to provide fans something to watch is key, he just doesn't feel right about having teams play away from their home cities. Though he acknowledges, these are unusual times.
"An elongated version of that just wouldn't feel right to me, none of it feels right, let's be honest. These are unusual times," said Viviano in an interview with CBS Local's Katie Johnston. "So I guess as we start to get further into... I mean, they're not going to start the season, at best, as we speak, till late May, June. So you're already talking a rather truncated season. Make it 100 games, and then just work your schedule from there. But as to where they start and how they start, yes, so much to be determined."
While the when and where of the MLB season re-starting is still up for debate, whenever it does happen, Viviano believes the shortened nature will hurt the Baltimore Orioles. The main reason for that belief? The team needs time for its young players to acclimate to professional ball and time is the one thing the major and minor leagues are running short on at the moment.
"It hurts the Orioles, and in this regard. They are a team entering the second season of a full-fledged rebuild. In other words, they have torn down their structure, with a whole new regime brought in to build it back up. You're building it back up with young talent. That young talent is in the minor leagues," said Viviano. "If the major leaguers aren't playing, for sure the minor leaguers aren't playing. And these young players, who really need to be getting the seasoning, the build up, the training toward becoming big leaguers, this is time last for them. Now you can say, well, every team's in the same boat. Well, in terms of time lost, they are. But I think the time is more valuable for a team like the Orioles. It's more needed because they have so many young players."
Viviano acknowledges of course that every team in the league will have to deal with less time for their young players to progress. But, for guys like last year's first overall pick Adley Rutschman, less time this year is likely to mean more time in the minors and an extended rebuilding timeline.
