May 23rd, 2020 at 8:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka During Thursday evening’s broadcast of Access Sportsnet Dodgers on SportsNet LA, show host John Hartung asked his Zoom guests Nomar Garciaparra, Orel Hershiser, and Ned Colletti where they would put the chances of there being a 2020 MLB season. Ever the optimist, 1988 NL Cy Young award-winner Hershiser put the chances at 60-40 that MLB and the MLB Players Association would come to a workable agreement to safely resume play under strict COVID-19 safety guidelines and would come to an agreement on the financial implications of what would, at best, be an 82(ish)-game shortened 2020 season.
On the other side of the coin (sort of), former six-time All-Star infielder and Whittier, CA native Nomar Garciaparra and former Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti were a bit less optimistic but perhaps a bit more realistic with their predictions.
“I’d put it at 50-50,” Garciaparra said.
“I agree with Nomar, around 50-50,” Colletti concurred.
Although some may consider calling it 50-50 the ‘politically-correct’ reply rather than an actual answer or opinion, the painful truth is that Nomar and Ned are probably closer to being right than our beloved ‘Bulldog.’
How so, you ask?
As California prepares to ‘partially reopen’ for the Memorial Day weekend, LA County saw its second-largest single-day spike in newly-reported COVID-19 cases in nearly a month on Wednesday and saw its death toll reach 2,049 as of Friday.
But what’s even more troubling, or at least should be for those begging for baseball to resume on or about July 1, is that many (not just one or two) medical experts are saying that we (the United States) have yet to reach the halfway point of the worst pandemic to hit the world in over a century, and the fact that there has yet to be a vaccine developed to prevent COVID-19 from continuing to spread.
I apologize for being the bearer of very unwanted news and a very unpopular opinion, but opening the state, country, and baseball at any level right now is not the prudent thing to do.
Fire away.
* * * * * *
Posted in 
In Pennsylvania, more people over 100 years of age have died from Corona virus, than under 45.
In Pennsylvania, more people over 95 years of age have died from Corona virus, than under 60.
In Pennsylvania, more people over 85 years of age have died from Corona virus, than under 80.
Solution: Prohibit anyone over 85 from playing MLB. Problem Solved.
PLAY BALL!!
I appreciate the attempt at humor, Boxout7 (apologies for not knowing your real name), but I did not make up these LA County numbers. But if there is a 2020 season, and if half of those 82 games were to be played at Dodger Stadium (which is in LA County, not Pennsylvania), it would only be a matter of time before a player or staff member contracts this extremely contagious virus.
PLAY BALL!! – when it is safe to do so.
Sorry Ron, it’s not an attempt at humor. I just don’t think it’s practical to stop life until there is a solution that satisfies the “experts”.
Dr. Fauci after working in his position over 35 yrs hadn’t even determined if it was good to wear a mask or not. He’s done a 180 at least once over the last couple months. As of a couple days ago, he now thinks shutdowns are worse health wise than the virus, another 180.
Now the CDC this week admitted the Coronavirus Mortality Ratio is Similar to 1957-58 Flu Pandemic Where No Lockdown Was Needed. Heck if they had locked down back then, the year the Dodgers moved to LA, there might not even be any LA Dodgers.
I also don’t remember any MLB players dying back then from the flu or from the Spanish Flu back in 1917-1918 for that matter.
Surely, we can agree we need more information on those LA County numbers. How many of those new cases are in the hospital? How many have already recovered?
I agree nobody wants the virus. Nobody wants the flu. I don’t even want a cold. But the unfortunate truth is we’re going to have as much success hiding from this virus as we have had hiding from the the cold and flu virus. I believe we’re all going to be exposed to the virus, sooner or later. Prepare by taking a probiotic, additional Vitamin C (with zinc), Vitamin D3 and prearrange with your doctor to be given hydroxychloroquine and a z pack antibiotic at the first sign of infection.
Lastly, if I still lived in So Cal I’d get to the beach. Lots of sun to raise the Vitamin D in the body and about as hostile an environment for a virus as any place in the world. And how about sitting in the Dodger Stadium right field bleachers during an afternoon game soaking up Vitamin D and watching the young guys show their stuff?
I’m 100% with Boxout 7 on every point.
When I say “with Boxout 7”, that is to say at a safe distance, of course. 🙂
Ron
I couldn’t agree more, with no vaccine any time soon, it’s just too dangerous. I would much rather watch replays of older games than risk another outbreak. Not to mention localities opening up, and bringing the virus to my family. That’s a risk I will NOT take.
I’m usually pessimistic and always see the worse, or prepare for the worse coming, but going by how the reaction is to this pandemic, by many states, it looks to me, that baseball will be here by June. I’d agree with Orel and say it’s 60-40.