And so it begins.

On Monday morning, it was being widely reported that a letter dated January 22, 2021, from Bridget Binsbacher, the executive director of the Cactus League, had been sent to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred requesting that Spring Training 2021 be delayed due to a significant increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in Arizona, which is among the highest in the country.

Here is executive director Binsbacher’s letter, verbatim, which was also signed by the Mayors of Goodyear, Mesa, Surprise, Peoria, Scottsdale, Glendale; the Phoenix and Tempe City Managers; and Martin Harvier, the President of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community:

Dear Commissioner Manfred:

Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Cactus League has formed a task force to ensure that our 10 spring training facilities are prepared to host the 2021 spring training season in a manner that is safe for all involved. We stand ready to work with you on the final preparation and outcome to begin the season.

Last week, leaders of all eight Cactus League cities and the tribal community had the opportunity to meet with Major League Baseball representatives and provide an update on our efforts as the February reporting date for Major League Baseball players approaches.

We are grateful to MLB for its partnership and unified in our commitment to provide a safe, secure environment; to that end, the task force has worked to ensure the ballparks are able to meet COVID-19 protocols such as pod seating, social distancing and contactless transactions. But in view of the current state of the pandemic in Maricopa County — with one of the nation’s highest infection rates — we believe it wise to delay the start of spring training to allow for the COVID-19 situation to improve here. This position is based on public data from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, which projects a sharp decline in infections in Arizona by mid-March (an estimated 9,712 daily infections on February 15 and 3,072 daily infections on March 15).

We understand that any decision to delay spring training cannot be made unilaterally by MLB. As leaders charged with protecting public health, and as committed, longtime partners in the spring training industry, we want you to know that we stand united on this point.

We appreciate the opportunity to offer input and thank MLB for its collaboration in assisting our facilities as they prepare for the 2021 spring training season. We welcome further discussions as needed.

While this news is most certainly disappointing for baseball fans everywhere, it really should have come as a surprise to no one. The best that we can hope – and pray – for is that with the increasing number of vaccinations be administered, this situation will improve to the point where we will once again hear those wonderful words:

Play Ball!

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UPDATE:

Per Bill Shaikin of the LA Times, MLB issued the following statement in response to Cactus League executive director Binsbacher’s letter:

“As we have previously said publicly, we will continue to consult with public health authorities, medical experts, and the Players Association whether any schedule modifications to the announced start of Spring Training and the Championship Season should be made in light of the current COVID-19 environment to ensure the safety of the players, coaches, umpires, MLB employees and other gameday personnel in a sport that plays every day.”

Stay tuned…

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UPDATE-2:

This from the MLB Players Association:

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