June 20th, 2020 at 8:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka It was inevitable and anyone who thinks otherwise is in serious denial.
For more than two months now, I have implied – even suggested – that MLB had better think twice about resuming baseball in 2020 amidst the worst pandemic to hit the world in over a century and the largest loss of American lives since the Civil War.
While MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and MLB Players Association executive director Tony Clark continued their childish game of ‘Liars Poker’ on Friday, there were 1,414 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 38 additional deaths in L.A. County alone.
But that’s not the half of it. On Friday morning, it was being widely reported on Twitter that five Philadelphia Phillies players and three Phillies staff members had tested positive for COVID-19 at Spectrum Field, the Phillies Spring Training facility in Clearwater, Florida. The Phillies later confirmed the report with this press release:
Within an hour, it was reported that a Toronto Blue Jays player had also tested positive for COVID-19 at their Spring Training facility in Dunedin, Florida.
As a result of the Phillies and Blue Jays situations, San Francisco Giants beat writer Andrew Baggarly reported that the Giants Spring Training facility in Scottsdale, AZ, a mere 28 miles from Camelback Ranch-Glendale, was also being shutdown:
By late afternoon, it was being reported that MLB was considering shutting down all 30 MLB Spring Training facilities in both the Florida Grapefruit League and the Arizona Cactus League, at least to give them a thorough cleaning:
But before the sun had set on Friday evening, the Texas Rangers announced that they were also shutting down their Spring Training facility in Surprise, AZ.
If you haven’t connected the dots by now, you, again, are in serious denial. There is no gentle way to put this, but even if MLB and the MLBPA were to (miraculously) agree on a plan to resume baseball in 2020, the extremely contagious and deadly coronavirus isn’t going to allow it to happen – period.
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Posted in 
Remember that the Players Association has not agreed to the safety protocols proposed by MLB, and there is no way that the union and players will agree to sign any type of health waiver. With the Phillies shutting down its Clearwater FL after 5 players and 3 support staff tested positive, as well as family members of those individuals, plus 20 more players are being tested, the likelihood of agreeing to play anytime soon is becoming more and more remote.
There is no doubt in my mind that MLB and the union can reach agreement on economics as there is too much money involved for both sides to shutdown the season. Reports that MLB is reconsidering the “bubble” approach to playing games, but roughly two months ago many players, including Clayton Kershaw, said that they would not agree to that concept.
TB is not a good analogy to covid-19 as the World Health Organization states: “TB is curable and preventable” including a vaccine for children. Not true for covid-19.
OK, perhaps I misunderstood your intent for comparing TB and covid-19, but that was not my the message I was attempting to share. And, I am in agreement that if the players want to play under the current circumstances then by all means, play ball. But, I believe the safety of players, support staff, umpires, coaches, managers, and their respective family members may shutdown the 2020 season rather than the economics.
Quote from MLB Trade Rumors: “Even bigger than revenue sharing or rule changes, however, are the health conditions facing players. Yesterday represented a step back as news broke of players at multiple MLB facilities with confirmed COVID-19 exposure”