Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred told Maria Bartiromo of Fox Business Tuesday that the season will not resume until given the proper clearance from health care officials.
“The only decision we have made, the only real plan that we have, is that baseball is not going to return until the public health situation is improved to the point that we’re comfortable that we can play games in a manner that is safe for our players, our employees, our fans and in a way that will not impact the public health situation adversely," Manfred said.
Manfred has been mostly quiet over the past few weeks, especially as plans about ways to start the season have been reported by the media. One of the more popular contingencies is known as the Arizona plan, where all players and coaches would be in a biosphere in Arizona and play their games there.
Manfred played down the Arizona plan and other proposals, saying they are just exploring ideas at this time.
"From our perspective we don’t have a plan, we have lots of ideas," Manfred said. "What ideas come to fruition will depend on what the restrictions are, what the public health situation is. But we are intent on the idea of trying to make baseball part of the recovery – the economic recovery – and sort of a milestone on the return of normalcy.”
MLB insider Jeff Passan said Monday that the odds of MLB playing this year may be "Arizona or bust."
One of the selling points of the Arizona plan was they would quarantine players for two weeks and then minimize travel, drastically reducing the risk of spreading COVID-19 and potentially allow baseball to return before other leagues.
The MLB season was supposed to start Mar. 26, but has been postponed officially until May 10 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The popular belief is the season will not begin until June or July.
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