Major League Baseball in The Bubble: The Dimensions of it All…
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By Anthony “Zute” George
COVID-19 dramatically changed how sports are followed. Indeed, for a good while, there were no sports to follow. Major League Baseball did come to a resolution to play a shortened season, 60 games instead of the standard 162, and a much bigger playoff pool; 16 teams, 8 from each league, will be competing for the World Series Championship. Since baseball if my favorite team sport by a large margin, I was pretty ecstatic about this news. Assuming competent COVID-19 protocols were put in place and followed. No, it is not a hoax.
Indeed, there will be a vast array of opinions on that matter.
With that said, let us concentrate on the latest MLB COVID-19 protocol that was put in place. The playoff bubble. There was no bubble, a designated area for everyone to compete that is closed off when major league teams began the season. For the most part, each team played in their home stadium and without a fan audience. The Toronto Blue Jays had to play in Buffalo instead of Canada. However, it was announced in late August that the playoffs would take place within a bubble in stadiums in both California and Texas, with the World Series scheduled to take place in Arlington, Texas.
Many things have been said about this sudden change, or perhaps it was not so sudden? Still, I want to focus on one aspect of this change that will affect baseball immensely. With a designated bubble in place, the home park/stadium element is taken out of the equation Indeed, even without a fan audience, there are elements to home cooking in baseball. Elements that are unique to team sports. The dimensions of the stadiums. Unlike the other team sports, the dimensions in baseball vary from location to location. This is one of the things fans love about the sport. Granted, football has weather conditions to consider. Still, they all have to go 100 yards to score a touchdown, and hopefully move the chains ten yards to gain a first down to keep offensive possession. The feel on a floor may vary from arena to arena in basketball, but a three-point bucket is the same distance every time an NBA player suits up.
In baseball, a member of the Oakland Athletics will always have their batting average compromised because of their foul territory’s abnormal size. A home run in left field at Fenway Park is typically a routine fly ball in most other locations; however, the Red Sox are so bad this year they can only dream about a bubble. Indeed, that was a shot from this Bronx Native. However, sometimes it is not the dimensions alone that change the scope of baseball statistics. Any pitcher on the Colorado Rockies can best explain that.
The different nuances of a baseball stadium have created a game within the game. Yankee haters can never stop talking about what a ‘Bandbox’ Yankee Stadium is. Conversely, up until recently, CitiField was much friendlier for pitchers.
Every stadium/ballpark has its own personality. That will be taken away with the playoff bubble. That means no Ivy at Wrigley Field this playoff season.
The bigger picture tells us there are much larger concerns. Still, most players are not happy about this baseball bubble. Having said that, I am sure most would rather be dealing with the headaches of being a bubble, instead of not competing for a World Series ring. As of now, there will be playoffs in MLB, and we will have a new World Series champion. The Washington Nationals, last years champions, will not have any bubble concerns in 2020. Those who will be competing will do so in a stadium that is not considered home. How much will that affect play?
Anthony “Zute” George is the Author of Tough Man: The Greg Haugen Story, a new boxing book that covers the skilled champion from Auburn, Washington, as well as the scope of the times during his days of pugilism.
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