MLB Discussing Playing All Games In Phoenix, Arizona Amid Coronavirus

Putting all 30 teams in the Phoenix area and playing in empty ballparks was among the ideas discussed Monday by Major League Baseball and the players’ association.

The sides held a telephone call to talk about paths forward for a season delayed by the new coronavirus pandemic, people familiar with the discussion told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity because no details were announced.

Ideas are still in the early stage, and the Arizona option would have many obstacles to overcome, the people said.

Putting all 30 teams in the Phoenix area and playing in empty ballparks was among the ideas discussed Monday by Major League Baseball and the players’ association.

Ideas are still in the early stage, and the Arizona option would have many obstacles to overcome, the people said.

Half of the MLB clubs hold spring training in Arizona, the other half in Florida.

Tech Titan Blasted for Using AI to Come up With 3 Things That Makes Her Daughter Special on Her 10th Birthday

Watch: YouTuber Separates Conjoined Turtle Twins, Ends with ‘Heartbreaking’ Result

‘Free Instacart for Welfare Queens’: California Begins Sending Out Luxury Food Boxes at Taxpayers’ Expense

California Mayor Allegedly Followed, Harassed, Blocked Car of Random Man She Thought Was ICE

Chuck Klosterman’s ‘Rock*’ is an exercise in fantastical pointlessness

Skilled trades now offer direct path to six-figure pay without college debt thanks to emerging tech industry

A look inside the Somali mall where Omar reappeared after DC raid raises more failed assimilation concerns

NYC woman critically injured after being stabbed multiple times while jogging along Brooklyn waterfront

Democrats’ self-inflicted wounds threaten high-stakes Michigan Senate race

Tough Time Finding an Affordable Car? Thank Obama’s Destruction of 680k Working Vehicles in 2009

Texas Claims 9 Rio Grande Islands in Power Move to Deny Cartels Safe Havens

College Hockey Star, Aspiring NYPD Cop Killed in Wrong-Way Crash: It Was a Twice-Deported Illegal Behind the Wheel

Tensions Heat Up in Taiwan Straight as China Shadows US Warship, Separate Maritime Standoff Erupts Near Taiwan

How House Democrats’ ‘deterrence message’ on Trump jobs could backfire

Outrage Erupts Over Minnesota Election Official’s Message on ‘Somali TV’: Doesn’t This Mean Illegals Can Easily Vote?

Arizona’s advantage is 10 spring training ballparks plus the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Chase Field all within about 50 miles. Florida’s spring training ballparks are spread by as much as 220 miles.

“It allows for immediacy of a schedule, where you might be able to begin it and televise it, provide Major League Baseball to America,” said Scott Boras, baseball’s most prominent agent. “I think players are willing to do what’s necessary because I think they understand the importance of baseball for their own livelihoods and for the interest of our country and providing a necessary product that gives all the people that are isolated enjoyment.”

“It gives them a sense of a return to some normalcy,” Boras added. “You talk to a psychologist about it and they say it’s it’s really good for a culture to have to have sport and to have a focus like that, where for a few hours a day they can take their minds off the difficult reality of the virus.”

Baseball’s season had been set to start March 26 but spring training was halted on March 12. After the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended restricting events of more than 50 people for eight weeks, MLB said it would not open until mid-May at the earliest.

Texas Rangers president of baseball operations Jon Daniels said MLB is examining different options and he didn’t want to speculate.

“But, obviously, we’d all love to find a way to play, provided we could do safely, and that would be the priority,” he said.

The players’ association would want to survey its members to determine whether they would support such a plan, one of the people said.

“You’re going to be largely separated from your families and you’re going to have to function in a very contained way. It’s not it’s not a normal life, this idea,” Boras said. “You’re going to have an identified group of people. You’re going to have a constantly tested group of people. And you’re going to have a very limited access of those people to the outside world so that you can assure a very uncontaminated league, if you will, to produce a product that is inspirational to our country.”