The Opening Day that Almost Wasn't

March 26, 2020 11:20 AM

MLB presents Opening Day at Home -- a full slate of 30 games broadcast nationally across various platforms. There will be one game -- a victory, of course – broadcast for each MLB club.
posted by Think_Long (20 comments total)

There once was an Opening Day that almost wasn't
almost wasn't
almost wasn't
there once was an Opening Day that almost wasn't
Because of a man named COVID-19
posted by Think_Long at 11:23 AM on March 26, 2020

Makes me think of the lovely open letter Jessamyn talked about getting from her local minor league team:

The delay of baseball is the delay of spring—and it reminds us of the famous quotation by Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby:

People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball.
I’ll tell you what I do.
I stare out the window and wait for spring.

For now, we sit by our windows and wait for the health and renewal represented by spring.... When this fog clears and the sun shines once again, we seek to welcome you with open arms, as we sing, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” and most poignantly, “Take me out with the crowd.”

posted by Rhaomi at 11:31 AM on March 26, 2020 [7 favorites]

Not a bad idea - I thought they were going for actual home opening games, but I'll settle for watch Game 4 of the 04 ALCS and watching the start of that turn around against the Yankees.
posted by drewbage1847 at 11:32 AM on March 26, 2020

They should have made the Astros one a heartbreaking walk-off loss.
posted by tonycpsu at 11:33 AM on March 26, 2020 [8 favorites]

I'll get my scorecard and pencil ready.
posted by hwyengr at 12:22 PM on March 26, 2020

Well, you can watch the Astros lose Game 7 to the Nationals, at home. It's the game the Astros deserve, really.
posted by fedward at 12:32 PM on March 26, 2020 [5 favorites]

For a fascinating look at some of the player-related business issues this represents, check out this FanGraphs piece from ZIPS wizard Dan Szymborski.

Service time is going be a hugely thorny issue. Let's say there's no season. Do you tell Mookie Betts he has to delay free agency by an extra year? Or do you tell the Dodgers they traded Alex Verdugo and Jeter Downs for... nothing? If they play a half season, does that mean he doesn't have enough service time to qualify as a free agent?
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:52 PM on March 26, 2020

Along with the opening day thing, they've also made the complete archives from 2018 and 2019 available. I'd never used the MLB streaming service before. Watching a game now, you can overlay the radio broadcast over the TV feed, or just have ballpark crowd noises only. Tres cool.
posted by hwyengr at 12:55 PM on March 26, 2020 [2 favorites]

Quick shameless self-link for my open source project for browsing, downloading, and playing MLB.tv games, among others.
posted by tonycpsu at 1:00 PM on March 26, 2020 [3 favorites]

They should have made the Astros one a heartbreaking walk-off loss.

Is it weird that I still think of the Pujols homer in 2005–in a series the Astros wound up winning—instead of literally the last game that was played (WS game 7)?
posted by Huffy Puffy at 1:07 PM on March 26, 2020

For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.

sort of
posted by pyramid termite at 2:25 PM on March 26, 2020

“[Baseball] breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall all alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops.” *

What happens when spring comes but baseball does not? My heart breaks all over again. This is the first time in ten years that I have not gone to opening day. I did watch the Twins game on MLB - excellent choice. It was good to see the old Metrodome again.

DOT - from what I understand, this season is One Season regardless of how many games are played.

* A. Bartlett Giamatti, Take Time For Paradise: Americans And Their Games
posted by Gray Duck at 3:14 PM on March 26, 2020 [7 favorites]

Thanks for posting. That 2011 Cardinals/Freese game will never disappoint, never grow old for me.
posted by riverlife at 3:31 PM on March 26, 2020 [1 favorite]

I caught Cincinnati Reds spring training for the first time ever this year during a trip to Arizona, and feel profoundly, almost tearfully grateful to have been able to see a game before baseball season was postponed. I really hope we get to see at least some of a regular season.
posted by mostly vowels at 3:57 PM on March 26, 2020 [1 favorite]

Huh, the Jays game is the Bautista bat flip one. Good choice there. But really they could just show the bat flip a couple of times and then clips of all the comentators heads exploding as they tried to process this affront to baseball.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 4:07 PM on March 26, 2020 [1 favorite]

Opening Day is in April, dammit.

I know the world is collapsing around us, but we have traditions here, people, traditions!
posted by madajb at 4:13 PM on March 26, 2020

We got Felix's perfect game. The local station had Ichiro's MLB debut on at the same time. I watched both.
posted by The Hamms Bear at 7:28 PM on March 26, 2020

They should have made the Astros one a heartbreaking walk-off loss.

I only hope other teams don't start cheating now that the Astros invented it.
posted by Beholder at 7:43 PM on March 26, 2020

DirtyOldTown: "Service time is going be a hugely thorny issue. Let's say there's no season. Do you tell Mookie Betts he has to delay free agency by an extra year? Or do you tell the Dodgers they traded Alex Verdugo and Jeter Downs for... nothing? If they play a half season, does that mean he doesn't have enough service time to qualify as a free agent?"

MLB and the players reached an agreement today about how things would be handled.

The biggest issue in the negotiations was service time, and the two sides agreed that if there’s a season of any length, players would receive credit for a full year as if it was a regular 162-game season. And if the season is canceled, players will receive the same service time they accrued in 2019.

posted by Chrysostom at 9:02 PM on March 26, 2020

> I only hope other teams don't start cheating now that the Astros invented it.

Is the implication here that the Astros have been unfairly singled out?
posted by tonycpsu at 9:10 PM on March 26, 2020