April 6th, 2020 at 10:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka I will be the first to say (although I’m absolutely positive that I am not) that oft-criticized ESPN sportswriter Jeff Passan is about as out of touch with reality as one can humanly be.
Allow me to explain.
Early Monday morning, Passan published an online artice (via Twitter) in which he (and co-author Alden Gonzalez) not only commended the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) for getting back on the baseball field amidst the deadliest and most contagious health crisis to hit the planet in over a century, but is suggesting that Major League Baseball follow suit. Keep in mind that the tiny East Asian country has a population of over 52 million in a geographical area that is four times smaller than California.
“Halfway across the world, in the country that thus far has stifled the coronavirus better than any, they’re playing baseball again,” Passan’s article begins. “The games are intrasquad scrimmages. The players sometimes wear masks on the field. It is sports with a dystopian twist. And yet South Korea has pitchers throwing pitches and hitters swinging bats and fielders gloving balls, and the rest of the world doesn’t.”
Stifled the coronavirus?
Although there have only been 10,284 reported cases of COVID-19 in South Korea and only 186 reported deaths, Passan, whose article is based almost entirely on quotes from 31-year-old former Philadelphia Phillies right-hander and Redlands, CA native Dan Straily who recently signed a one-year contract with the Lotte Giants of the KBO, apparently overlooked that fact that very few of those 52 million South Koreans have been – or will be – tested for the deadly virus; or that there are thousands of small (but very crowded) villages throughout the U.S.-friendly nation where testing has not – and will not – be done; or that there are undoubtedly hundreds (if not thousands) of unreported COVID-19-related deaths in and among those small villages.
(Photo credit – Nick Wass)
Sorry, Jeff, but suggesting that MLB players to simply put on masks and take the field is, hands down, the single worst idea I have heard since MLB commissioner Rob Manfred cancelled Spring Training and delayed the beginning of the 2020 regular season.
Get a clue.
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Posted in 
@Dodgers Yes, truly bad.
Until recently, South Korea tested more per capita than any other country on earth and they still far exceed the USA. They have the capacity to do the same again. As for only having 10k cases and 186 deaths is a testament to S Korea’s government and leadership to contain the virus before it was allowed to spread unchecked. What is more important are the number of new cases they have each day. Yesterday was 33 new cases, which are many more than it’s previous weeks. But that’s for the entire country. And all are from travelers and most importantly, none are community spread. It means they know where the virus came from, so it is still contained.
Secondly, the article does address all of your issues in an entire section where it talks about how it would not be smart to compare the United States with South Korea and NOT to assume that what they are able to do there can be replicated here.
Lastly, yes there are risks for South Korea to start playing baseball. Just as MLB is watching the KBO resume sports, the entire world has its eyes on China and South Korea to see if there will be another wave or if they can continue to contain the virus. The biggest risk of course are Americans. Americans travel more globally than any other people. So until Covid is contained in this country, it will continue to be a huge threat for the entire world.
Thank you for a very well thought out and accurate statement. South Korea has done a very good job in containing this issue. Each country and each league has their own rules or social norms. Things that worked in South Korea worked well, but they may not work well in the USA or other places. I hope that they are able to play baseball in a safe manner, and that the virus continues to be relatively contained there.
If they, or anybody else, is going to do that stuff they need to learn to cover mouth and nose.
He’s at it again. Late Monday night, Passan posted this on Twitter:
This dude just doesn’t get it. The coronavirus will be PEAKING in May.
watch the comments the
powers that be make about peaks & such. Read only those from actual scientific sources. The prediction is the RATE of infections may be peaking in May. The hope is we would then start down the other side of the curve with a declining rate of infections. The current growth rate is exponential and we cannot assume symmetry (ok maybe we shouldn’t) leaving only model based guesses on when or what an acceptably ‘safe’ infection growth rate will be. In there is the fact there will still be an infection rate even with numbers of infected individuals declining.
This whole thing has really revealed that we truly have failed in what is really straightforward simple math and understanding of rates vs actual totals as a nation.
If it wasn’t so critical it would be funny. More ironically I’m sensing modern Sabermetric analytics has created a ton of us who know the differences just because we love the game.
Just doesn’t make sense to even consider games in home stadiums this season. Travel & logistics would surely increase new infections even as that peak rate is in decline. I think some sort of season at ST facilities would be fun. The postseason could be the FLA league vs AZ league. Toss in some skills events too…lots of fun changes we fans might enjoy since there would be fewer games.
Take a breath………..lets see where this goes before we resort to conjecture. The “so-called” experts have had to lower the projected rates of death and infection many times since this entire ordeal started. Do I see MLB in 2020?…………yes in some shape or form. Will I attend or will it be ideal baseball like we are so accustomed to?………probably not, but we should all take a breath and let the public health experts sort this out.
Just to be fair, this is not Passan’s idea, he’s just reporting it. And obviously there are people who don’t think it’s a crazy idea. Please be tolerant of the fact that not everyone is on the same page as you.
It’s also important for people to think out of the box, float new ideas and find innovative solutions to problems. It’s what makes these United States of America so great!