OK, so there is no love lost between MLB and the MLBPA.  No doubt there will be worse days ahead next year as they start to negotiate the next CBA.  But at least on paper we can now look forward to a 60-game season plus the post-season assuming COVID-19 does not interfere come the Fall.  SU has a few questions for you:

• Clearly, 60 games vs. 162 games requires a whole different strategy for managers and GMs.  Also, an accelerated spring training means you don’t want to burn out your big gun starters in July and August.  SU says this favors the teams with the strong bullpens.  Guys like Gerret Cole will be huge in October but you don’t want to mess them up with too many innings in the regular season.
• While a 60-game season is very short, it also means that managers can’t just blow off games by having starters chew up innings in lost cause games.  You need to get off to a good start to the season and every game matters.  It really does.
• What is the over/under for the number of games that Giancarlo Stanton plays?  SU puts it at 15.  He will immediately get injured in spring training in early July and then come back in September for the playoffs.
• The big wild card is COVID-19 and what happens if key guys test positive at any point in the season.  Btw, as a public service announcement from SU for the President, the “19” stands for the year 2019.  Sluggers can easily be replaced but your top starting pitchers can’t and being out for 14 days in October is the difference between winning and losing.  SU says teams need to really quarantine these guys in October – as in not having them in the dugout for games they are not starting and locking them  in their apartments.  Seriously.  And no more home run hugs in the dugouts.
• Should there be a Cy Young or an MVP this year?  Does a starter who goes 8-1 deserve an award?  SU says not.

Meanwhile, as a follow-up to the tennis tournament played in the Baltics the last 2 weeks, now Djokovic, his trainer, his wife, and 2 other ATP players have all tested positive.  So did the the Denver Nuggets star, Nikola Jokic, who attended the tournament in Belgrade.  What a mess.

The Yankees and Dodgers are the favorites to win it all from the Vegas experts.  The challenge for the Yankees is how to squeeze in all of their injuries in a 60-game season.  It will be interesting to see how the ratings are.  MLB lost a lot of fan goodwill over the past several weeks.  But fans are desperate.

So, any thoughts on the upcoming season?  We know long-time subscriber, S. Long, thinks there won’t be a season, and he may be right.  Anyone excited?

While all of the major sports and pro sports leagues are actively planning for the launching/relaunching of their seasons and major tournaments, there is not smooth sailing ahead.  Consider:

• SU fave Novak Djokovic created a series of 4 exhibition events in the Adriatic region where most COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted.  His first event last weekend in Belgrade featured packed crowds, no masks and players embracing at the net and partying at night bare chested in night clubs.  I mean: what could go wrong?  On the 2nd leg of the tour this past weekend in Croatia, first Gregor Dimitrov tested positive and now Borna Coric has also although he only played this most recent weekend.  One of Djokovic’s trainers also tested positive and Dimitrov’s coach.  And everyone else got tested yesterday except Djokovic who returned to Monte Carlo as he had no symptoms.  Sigh.  If you watched on the Tennis Channel (as SU did along with 9 others globally) you saw that the press conferences featured all of the players side-by-side, basketball and soccer pick-up games with the top players and other events.  Not smart.  The only positive is that they will now have the antibody which hopefully provides some immunity from getting the virus again (still not confirmed that will happen but hopefully is the case).
• Will the US Open now allow these players who tested positive to come in August?  They need to self-quarantine for 14 days when they arrive and the calendar will be tight.  The US Open may end up being the really, really US Open with only American players.
• Meanwhile, MLB and the Players’ Union in addition to screwing around with the number of games is starting to have players test positive down in Florida which is having its own outbreaks in certain parts of the state.  They closed all of the practice facilities this weekend for cleaning.  SU says train in your home ballparks. around the country.  Not too many states are fairing worse than Florida now.  Why send all of your players down there for 3 weeks?
• Which leads us to the NBA and MLS which is having a tournament for all of its teams in Orlando in 2 weeks.  Now, Orlando, at least for the moment, is not a hot spot in Florida although Disney is re-opening next month.  No doubt the NBA is now questioning if Orlando was such a great idea for this.  Perhaps pick a couple of other cities that have much lower numbers?  Arizona, Florida and Texas are all spiking as we speak.    Not an easy call for Adam Silver who is the most capable of the Commissioners.  Keep your eye on this.
• The PGA TOUR is doing well as is NASCAR with their early events aside from the noose found in Bubba Wallace’s garage.  What a country.
• We are a month away from NFL training camps opening and we will likely know quickly how that is going to work.   SU says you are going to have to really do a lot more testing in the camps.

Bottom line: time to really, really get into watching golf and become a NASCAR racing fan.  Hard to see how these other sports are going to pull this off in the coming months although we are all desperately rooting for them (with the exception of baseball fans who are no doubt getting annoyed with the delays).

Keep those Netflix/Amazon suggestions coming…

SU has been quiet of late but we have been monitoring the slow and uneven progress of major sports readying themselves for live action with no spectators.  The latest:

• MLB is playing a brinksmanship game with the players.  By delaying an agreement, it just continues to reduce the number of possible games for the regular season.  Assuming that teams need at least 3 weeks of spring training, we are now past July 4th for the start of a season.  At the moment, it feels like a 50 – 70 game regular season with the likelihood at the lower end of that range.  As a fan, is this satisfying?  SU says that baseball has lost some goodwill with the fan base and the sniping and arguing over player salaries will have an effect on fan interest.  Not a good look.  But SU predicts that they will make a deal at the last minute as there is some money to be made.
• The NBA will start which is great.  All games in Orlando with no spectators.  If you have ever watched the Summer League games in Las Vegas, it will look like that in small venues.
• Will there be a tennis US Open?  SU has been monitoring this one.  The USTA has proposed that all players will stay in hotels near LaGuardia Airport and must self-quarantine for 2 weeks when they arrive and only 1 coach can accompany a player.  Djokovic is already balking at coming and says most players will stay away and ready for the clay season in Europe in September.  I must say the prospect of staying 3 weeks at a LaGuardia Airport hotel would be enough to keep me at home!  Of course, the bigger reality is that New York City is viewed as the epicenter for COVID-19 and no one wants to come here.  Federer is now out for the rest of 2020 and Nadal is also saying he likely won’t come.  The lesser players need the money and they will come.  The USTA should be making a decision next week.
• Golf is coming!  SU predicts that they will move to having spectators fairly quickly at least down in Texas and Florida and there is talk of even in Ohio for the Memorial Tournament.
• MLS will have a tournament in Orlando and the NHL will  be launching in select cities that are being determined now.  NASCAR is already racing and will soon allow spectators in some venues.
• The NFL is still on schedule to open training camps in July and a lot is riding on that.  SU still does not understand how this will work but the experts are working hard at making this happen.
• Finally, SU is hoping that colleges and universities open and at least give it a shot this Fall.  You need the campuses to be open for games to be played.  Probably fewer spectators in the stands but it feels like the NCAA will go forward with a reduced schedule.

SU stopped reading the sports section weeks ago and would like to resume.

A few recent Netflix shows to recommend to you:

• Halt and Catch Fire: a 4-season AMC Network series on the launch of the computer industry in the 1980s and 1990s.  Excellent.
• Sex Education: very funny; British.
• Fleabag: a couple of seasons; also British.  Also funny.
• Red Oaks: takes place in a country club.  Very good.
• Bodyguard: good action
• The Wire: most of you probably already watched it.  Thank goodness for closed captions.  SU is only on season 1 but really enjoying it so far.

All for now.  Sorry for the delay and hope to be more active in the weeks ahead.