The St. Louis Blues are still hoping to defend their Stanley Cup championship. Fortunately, getting that done will be easier than baseball starting up.
The St. Louis Blues are all sitting around, in various parts of the world, waiting to see if they will be able to finish the 2019-20 season. At the very least, they have to hope they can get some sort of playoff format going in an attempt to defend their championship.
The problem facing all sports is that human beings can agree on next to nothing. That’s what makes politics so idiotic. In sports we cannot even agree on who is a good player and who stinks at times. Yet, in politics, we are supposed to agree with everything for one side or another.
Regardless, the leagues across North America are trying their best to figure things out to return some sort of normalcy to the sports world. It does have to be mentioned they are trying to salvage some form of financial return too, so it’s not all for the benefit of fans, but we still get something out of it.
The one thing that the Blues and the NHL, and the NBA for that matter, have going for them is they were on the cusp of being done anyway. St. Louis had 11 games remaining and the rest of the league was about the same, give or take a game or two. The NBA had less than 20 games remaining in almost all of their seasons.
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Trying to figure out how to finish off that amount of games, plus a potential playoff (or just a playoff) is much simpler than baseball is dealing with. The interesting thing is, at least in terms of when it hit the news, MLB was the first to publicly formulate a plan to get going.
However, with baseball having not started, there is a lot more uncertainty and even more hurdles to jump over. On 101 ESPN radio, they discussed how Buster Olney of ESPN reported his player source initially said there was “no f’n way” that would ever happen when asked about playing all games in Arizona.
Olney did go on to say that a subsequent text with the same source told him after discussing things with his wife, the tune had changed. The discussion basically said if it boils down to getting paid to play in Arizona or not getting paid, the player would go into the bubble so to speak to earn their money.
However, that one source proves what a predicament baseball is in. In the NBA and NHL, guys were in the midst of a long, hard season. While personal and family safety will always be in their minds, they do not want almost a whole season’s worth of efforts to be for nothing.
Baseball has a different sell for their workers, i.e. the players. They are trying to start their season in uncertain times with no guarantee of when or if anything would change.
If they start the season in Arizona, there is a definite possibility they would be forced to end the season in Arizona. Even if they manage to start the season in May, you’ve already missed a month’s worth of games. Even if you play double-headers, that’s pushing the season well into November and perhaps more.
That’s a big change in the normal calendar for baseball. It is a gigantic ask for players to consider being sequestered from their families for that long.
Hockey and basketball do not have that same problem. It is still possible there would be grumbling or even players flat-out refusing to show up. However, it’s not as large an ask for them to be away for two or three months at the most, if you made the final. It would only be that long if they finished the regular season too.
The problem the NHL currently faces is more one of fairness. It seems a slight majority are in favor of simply beginning with a playoff.
However, even with his team currently in first place, Craig Berube would prefer to play some regular season games just to get the timing back. Others, such as Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky want to finish the season to give his team a chance to make the playoffs.
Even with those reservations, restarting hockey or basketball is an easier sell to the players. Baseball has a huge task on its hands.
They have to give teams freedom with their roster, not only in the chance of an illness but also in case a player simply refuses to be away from their family that long. They also have to deal with the reality of what to do with that player’s contract, such as do they get paid, would they stay under contract if in a free agency year since they did not play, whether it’s worth the media firestorm to not pay someone and more.
There is no doubt that the Blues and almost all hockey players would want to get back to action. That is not to say they would not have fears or reservations. Admittedly, I do not know the inner minds and hearts of these hockey players either.
You simply get the sense that they are itching to get back and finish what they started. Baseball, on the other hand, has to figure out how to start before they can even think about finishing. That’s a different kettle of fish.