Baseball is back, at least until it isn’t

The back-and-forth rough and tumble of labor negotiations between Major League Baseball and the MLBPA is over, at least for the time being.

Now the only conflict is the cognitive dissonance raging in your head.

Newton’s Third Law is playing out in coverage of baseball’s return. For every headline that generates excitement, I’m seeing one that inspires an equal, opposite reaction.

For instance, there’s this…

… and then there’s this:

In my backyard, there’s this:

And then there’s this:

Gov. Bill Lee and Nashville Mayor John Cooper are marching forward with plans to reopen businesses and lift coronavirus restrictions, despite a worsening outbreak infecting, hospitalizing and killing more Tennesseans than ever before.

I’ve found equilibrium in taking pleasure from the idea that, if Major League Baseball can’t conduct a full season, nobody can point to business reasons. The two sides have agreed — or agreed enough — on the economics and the report date, which is an acceptable outcome for labor negotiations … between hostile parties … on the fly during unprecedented global circumstances.

Beyond the players’ willingness to report on July 1, I’m withholding joy about (and expectations for) the actual “regular” season until MLB can conduct a spring training without incident. Extrapolate the current situation to July 24, and I envision a dystopia where managers are resigned to building their lineup cards around their 10 least-contaminated meat sacks. The country hasn’t covered itself in glory when it comes to pandemic response, and this league involves most of the map.

But if we can allow hope to prevail for at least 24 12 hours, let’s run down the list of rule changes and other revised conditions for the compromised season:

The schedule: Teams will play 60 games, 10 games against each of their four divisional opponents, and five games against their interleague counterparts. The AL-NL “rivalries” will get six games, which will please Hawk Harrelson when it comes to White Sox-Cubs. There are no scheduled doubleheaders, and every game halted by rain will be considered suspended, rather than wiped out.

Universal DH: While the MLB and MLBPA couldn’t reach an agreement about universal DH in their economic proposals, the league can implement DH for both leagues as part of their health and safety protocols. This registers as a major bummer for anal-retentive National League fans (not me) and people who get really excited when the game breaks down (definitely me).

PERTINENT: As universal DH looms, let’s appreciate great moments in White Sox pitchers hitting

Rosters: Teams will start the season with a 30-man roster, which is part of a 60-man roster that also includes a taxi squad full of less contaminated meat sacks minor leaguers who can step up in case of injury or outbreak. The regular roster will then draw down to 28 players two weeks in, and then the now-standard 26-man roster at the four-week mark.

I’ll delve deeper into each of these modified measures as they pertain to the White Sox, at least as long as teams are able to conduct business in a manner that makes playing baseball in three weeks possible. The early reports on the health and safety protocol say it heavily relies on individual behavior modification, which makes the health of 30 30-man teams really difficult to maintain, so my hopes aren’t high.

PERTINENT: The third base coach is a vector

That said, we can at least celebrate the idea that teams and players are done trading proposals about a season that might even happen. Everybody has at least one win in the books the way I see it, and any additional ones are gravy.

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