The sport affectionately known as America’s pastime makes its long-awaited return on Thursday when the 2020 Major League Baseball season gets underway.

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MLB: Play ball! Baseball to start under coronavirus shadow
Published July 22, 2020, 4:44 PM
by Agence France-Presse
Other Sports Sports
In this le photo taken on July 15, 2020, the Colorado Rockies play an intrasquad game during summer workouts at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by MATTHEW STOCKMAN /
GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
No chewing tobacco, no fighting, no fans and instead of a sprawling 162-game regular season marathon, an abbreviated 60-game sprint to the
playoffs.
The sport affectionately known as America’s pastime makes its long-awaited return on Thursday when the 2020 Major League Baseball season
gets underway.
But as the Washington Nationals prepare to host the New York Yankees in a marquee opening day match-up, baseball is still adjusting to its new
reality.
After nearly torpedoing the new season altogether, the impact of COVID-19 will loom large when infectious disease specialist Anthony Fauci
tosses the first pitch at Nationals Park on Thursday.
Unlike other professional sports leagues in North America, which have reopened by basing multiple teams at single locations, baseball’s new
season will start with teams playing in their home ballparks.
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2. It comes at a time when swathes of the United States are struggling to control a resurgence in the coronavirus which has left more than 140,000
dead.
Already MLB’s strategic decision to require teams to travel has run into difficulties. The Toronto Blue Jays were told by the Canadian government
last week that they will not be allowed to stage home games.
“We have concluded the cross-border travel required for MLB regular season play would not adequately protect Canadians’ health and safety,”
Canada’s immigration minister Marco Mendicino announced.
A number of players, meanwhile, have already decided to skip the new season citing concerns over the pandemic.
For the Nationals, COVID-19 has already claimed Ryan Zimmerman and Joe Ross, who played key roles in the team’s World Series-winning
campaign last year.
READ: 83 COVID-19 cases revealed as MLB gears for return
Safe at home
Zimmerman and Ross have both decided to opt out.
“I’ll be staying safe at home and pulling as hard as anyone for the guys to defend our championship,” said Zimmerman, who has three young
children and a mother who has multiple sclerosis.
Zimmerman’s misgivings were shared by Colorado Rockies outfielder Ian Desmond. “The COVID-19 pandemic has made this baseball season one
that is a risk I am not comfortable taking,” the two-time All-Star said.
“With a pregnant wife and four young children who have lots of questions about what’s going on in the world, home is where I need to be right
now.”
The players who have opted to embark on the new season will find themselves subjected to a range of strict health and safety protocols designed
to prevent outbreaks of COVID-19.
Players will be tested for the disease every 48 hours while masks will be mandatory for players on the field.
Social distancing rules will mean expanded dugouts, with back-up players spread out in seating normally reserved for fans.
Two staples of baseball — chewing tobacco and sunflower seeds — are also effectively banned. Under baseball’s new safety code, any spitting is
forbidden.
Players or managers who leave their positions to remonstrate with umpires — or who come within six feet of game officials — will risk ejection and
discipline.
Rule changes
Whether the MLB’s exhaustive safety protocols will be successful remains to be seen. The most recent round of test results announced by the
league revealed six positive cases out of 10,548 tests, a 0.05% positive rate.
But public health experts are less sure.
Zach Binney, an epidemiologist at Oxford College of Emory University in Atlanta, says the sheer volume of COVID-19 cases across the United
States may prove problematical for baseball.
“Major League Baseball’s plan would work great in Germany, South Korea, or Vietnam or New Zealand,” Binney told AFP. “I have sincere doubts it’s
going to work in the United States. The number of cases is just so high.”
The absence of fans from ballparks meanwhile has forced teams to innovate. Several clubs will have piped crowd noise playing in stadiums during
games, while others have installed cardboard cut-outs of fans in the seating.
Players meanwhile will also need to adjust to several rule changes that baseball is launching this season in a bid to speed up play.

3. Virus vaccine key for Olympics go-ahead in 2021, says Tokyo chief
July 22, 2020, 03:42 PM
by Agence France-Presse
The development of a coronavirus vaccine or treatment will be key to allowing the postponed Tokyo 2020 games to open in a year’s time,
organising committee president Yoshiro Mori said Wednesday.
Asked what factors will be crucial for the rescheduled Games to go ahead, Mori said “it would be whether the coronavirus woe is settling down.”
“Specifically, the first point will be that a vaccine or drug has been developed,” he said in an interview with national broadcaster NHK, published
Wednesday.
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PSC-owned facilities getting lled up
July 21, 2020, 06:11 PM
by Nick Giongco
Other Sports Sports
The three Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) venues tapped by the government to house COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms are starting to
fill up once again.
Just a day after reopening, the Rizal Memorial Coliseum on Vito Cruz in Malate is already housing 30 individuals (21 female and nine male).
The Coliseum, which underwent disinfection after the release of its last patient two weeks ago, can still admit 67.
CONTINUE READING
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NBA: Zero COVID positives in latest test results
July 21, 2020, 05:29 PM
by Agence France-Presse
Basketball Sports
MIAMI – The latest round of COVID-19 testing at the NBA’s campus in Orlando found zero positive cases out of 346 players tested, the NBA said
on Monday.
In a brief statement, the NBA said the latest figures related to testing carried out since July 13, when results of the last wave of tests were
announced.
”In the event that a player on the NBA campus returns a confirmed positive test in the future, he will be isolated until he is cleared for leaving
isolation under the rules established by the NBA and the Players Association,” the NBA said in a statement.
CONTINUE READING
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Historic Ronaldo puts Juventus on brink of Serie A title
July 21, 2020, 05:22 PM
by Agence France-Presse
Other Sports Sports

4. TURIN, Italy (AFP) – Cristiano Ronaldo put Juventus on the brink of a ninth consecutive Italian league title on Monday after he scored twice in a 2-
1 win over Lazio to become the first player to hit 50 goals in Serie A, La Liga and the Premier League.
Juventus ended a three-match winless run thanks to Ronaldo’s second-half brace that moves them eight points clear of second-placed Inter Milan
with four games remaining.
CONTINUE READING
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NBA: Kobe Bryant looming large for LeBron James, Lakers at restart
July 21, 2020, 05:13 PM
by Agence France-Presse
Basketball Sports
LeBron James said on Monday memories of Kobe Bryant are still looming large for the Los Angeles Lakers as the team steps up preparations for
the NBA’s relaunched season in Florida.
Six months after Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven other people died in a helicopter crash in Los Angeles, James said he still thinks of the
late Lakers legend every day.
“A day doesn’t go by where I don’t think about him,” James said when asked about Bryant. “A day doesn’t go by where our organization does not
remember him and think about not only Kobe, but Gigi, (wife) Vanessa, and the other girls.
CONTINUE READING
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David Beckham’s Inter Miami eliminated from MLS tournament
July 21, 2020, 05:03 PM
by Agence France-Presse
Other Sports Sports
(AFP) — David Beckham’s Inter Miami became the first side to be eliminated from Major League Soccer’s restart competition on Monday after
stumbling to a 1-0 defeat to New York City FC.
A second-half strike from Libya international Ismael Tajouri-Shradi kept New York’s hopes of reaching the knockout rounds alive while condemning
Miami to a first round exit from Group A in Orlando.
CONTINUE READING
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PSC chairman Butch Ramirez back on the saddle
July 21, 2020, 04:27 PM
by Nick Giongco
Other Sports Sports
The workload during his first day in office after a four-week furlough was extra-heavy.
But Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman Butch Ramirez didn’t mind carrying the burden of putting his agency in order.
Ramirez, who was on leave to attend to his wife who had been hospitalized, was on working mode the entire Monday.
“I didn’t mind because it is our responsibility to make sure we have things in place,” said Ramirez.

5. From Around the Web
Recommended by
From this season, every pitcher must face at least three batters or finish an inning, while for the first time a designated hitter will be used in both
the American and National Leagues.
Games that go to extra innings, meanwhile, will start with a runner on second base in an effort to prevent marathon games.
The shortened season may also wreak havoc with the conventional wisdom over which teams are likely to reach the World Series.
While regular playoff contenders with deep rosters such as the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees can normally be expected to come
good over the course of a long season, the shorter season could potentially open the door for any mid-tier team that enjoys a hot streak.
RELATED TAGS: #CORONA #COVID-19 #MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL #MLB #NOVEL CORONAVIRUS
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