McAdam: If baseball hopes to play, work must start now

According to a number of reports, Major League Baseball is in the process of readying a proposal to put in front of the Major League Baseball Players Association, with an eye toward restarting spring training by mid-June and beginning a truncated season around the first of July.

There's increased optimism throughout the industry that the season can be salvaged and, among some, hope that most -- if not all -- of these games can be played in major league ballparks, albeit almost certainly not in front of fans.

But, of course, that's subject to change -- just like everything else associated with this pandemic. Weeks ago, the prospect of playing games in New York would have been unthinkable as the coronavirus laid waste to the city. Now, after a hellish April, New York has successfully flattened the curve and the idea of it serving as a host is no longer unimaginable.

However, the reverse is true in other parts of the country. While the Midwest was relatively untouched by the pandemic in the early going, there are now hot spots in those areas of the country. So, a city like Kansas City has the opposite trajectory than that of New York: once safe, now nearly overwhelmed.

Those two examples illustrate the risks MLB now faces. If it's difficult to forecast how things might look in a week or two, then it's full-on impossible to know what lurks ahead by the time July arrives.

Said one baseball official who asked not to be named: "It gets pretty tricky when you're dealing with, I think, 18 different governors. But they're trying.''

And yet, MLB has little choice. For all the uncertainty ahead, baseball must start planning now. There are so many moving parts, so many variables, that a design for baseball's return can't wait: facilities must be readied, schedules must be prepared and players must be readied.

If MLB wants to begin assembling players in a little over a month's time, it has to start formulating a plan now. This isn't something that can be done in haste.

Without knowing what's to be included in baseball's proposal to the union -- details of which must be agreed upon before being implemented -- here are some unresolved issues:

Number of games, division/league alignments.

It's in the best interest of the game to play as many games as feasible. The longer the schedule, the more integrity there will be to a season that will be far from normal.

But there are limits, of course. A July 1 start could see -- assuming no interruptions -- a schedule that runs through the end of October. That's roughly 120 or so days, giving baseball the opportunity to get in around 100 games -- the number most cite as necessary to put together a representative season. Anything shorter would be seen as makeshift and too small a sample size.

As for how the teams would be grouped, that's a huge unknown. If teams play in their Florida and Arizona spring training bases, there would need to be divisions based on Grapefruit League and Cactus League groupings. In that plan, the Red Sox could be put in a division with their neighbors in southwest Florida -- Twins, Rays, Braves, Orioles and Pirates.

Of late, however, there seems to be greater momentum for teams playing in their own regular-season ballparks. Even if that is workable from a public health and safety standpoint, it would likely necessitate a one-year realignment to limit the amount of travel and exposure.

With that plan in place, the Sox would be in a 10-team division with their usual A.L. rivals (Yankees, Rays, Blue Jays and Orioles) joined by five others (Mets, Phillies, Nationals, Pirates and Marlins).

Rule changes/experiments

If American League teams are going to be bunched with National League teams, it would be impossible to go with the usual DH for AL teams/No DH for NL clubs. There's been a movement toward a universal DH -- likely to be a bargaining chip for the next CBA negotiations after the 2021 season -- so a one-year experiment would be the perfect option.

Baseball is known to have proposed other rule changes, including banning or limiting infield shifts; putting a runner in scoring position to start extra innings; and a one-time-per-game floating hitter, where, for example, a team could use its best hitter in the ninth inning of a tie game even if that player wasn't due to hit.

Some will enrage traditionalists, undoubtedly. But if they're under consideration to be introduced permanently, the 2020 season could serve as the perfect laboratory.

Roster size

It's a given more players will be needed. Injuries will happen, and with the effort to shoehorn more games into a tighter calendar, the need for reinforcements will be greater than ever. That goes double for pitching.

Baseball had already agreed to expand to 26 players for 2020 before the pandemic struck.

It seems a given that will expand again, perhaps to as many as 30 players.

And since few expect there to be a minor league season, there will be a need for a remote taxi-squad of depth players, available to fill in when needed.

Postseason format

Again, baseball is known to have had internal discussions about expanding its playoff field, perhaps going from 10 teams in the postseason (six division winners and four wild card entrants) to as many as 14 (with two wild card teams added in each league).

That would provide additional inventory for MLB to sell to its TV partners, who would welcome the drama inherent with elimination games.

Also to be determined: how would a three, 10-team division look this postseason? Would there be crossover play between divisions? If not, how would baseball handle having an odd number of division champs?

These -- and a seemingly endless list of other issues -- make starting the season a Herculean challenge.

And yet baseball has no other choice if it wants to salvage 2020.