This week, Pirates general manager Ben Cherington expressed optimism that there would be an MLB season in 2020.
At the time, several proposals had been released outlining proposals for how the season could potentially get started, including playing games in spring training facilities or just Arizona. This week, two others were released: One to play games in home ballparks and another to hold spring training at each team's home stadium. Even if neither plan comes to fruition, having new dialogue center around teams returning home rather than having to play in an Arizona biodome offered an optimistic outlook for the season.
However, the Arizona biodome is still a possibility. All of the proposals are, actually.
"Frankly, I think everything is on the table," Cherington said in an interview with 93.7 The Fan Saturday morning. "The reason for my optimism is less about any particular plan or piece of information I have that somebody else doesn't have, because frankly, I think we have mostly the same information. My optimism is driven just through the knowledge of how motivated both the league -- people at the league office, people at teams -- and the players themselves are towards finding a way to play."
Cherington said some of the advantages of playing or preparing in Pittsburgh or Bradenton is the familiarity with facilities, but all factors -- including weather, transportation, and most importantly health -- need to be considered too.
So do the Pirates favor one proposal over another?
"I think our preference would be to start," Cherington said. "I think our players, our staff, our organization [would] go anywhere that is safe and where there's a reasonable facility and environment to work in."
The public health situation would have to improve for the season to happen anywhere, including in Pennsylvania. On Friday, governor Tom Wolf did not include Allegheny County as one of the 24 counties who will have their stay-at-home orders lifted next week. Secretary of Health Rachel Levin cited the county's "population and density" as the reason why.
Major League teams are unlikely to start reconvening for at least a few weeks, if not a month, so there is time for the stay at home to be lifted and the Pirates to potentially return to Pittsburgh. Cherington said the team has been in contact with state officials, and what they have been told has been "consistent with what you're reading publicly."
"We'll certainly want to continue those conversations [with] the more information we get."
The full interview can be found on The Fan's website.
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