MLB must become more fan friendly after coronavirus shutdown

PORT ST. LUCIE — Baseball could do well to learn something from the 1984 film “The Terminator.” And it’s not just the famous line, “I’ll be back.’’

At movie’s end as Sarah Connor sits in her red Jeep Wrangler at a gas station in the desert, the young son of the station’s owner looks out across the threatening horizon and cries out in Spanish: “There’s a storm coming in.’’

There sure is.

Four days ago I wrote MLB needed to completely shut down its camps. Shutter them all. No organized workouts. Keep players and team personnel safe. Baseball didn’t do it.

After first coming up with the strangest of plans that players could stay and have group workouts, something that made zero sense, MLB finally hit the common sense button Sunday and proclaimed camps will cease having informal group workouts.

Most players are heading home or to a temporary residence if they can’t go to their home. A Yankees minor leaguer tested positive for coronavirus, the first player to test positive. The Yankees say he had no contact with major league players. Still, minor league players often come over to the major league camp for games, like the split-squad game the Yankees had last Sunday in Sarasota. Any of those minor leaguers could have been in contact with the Yankees minor leaguer who contracted the virus.

The coronavirus pandemic is a game changer in so many ways and this is unchartered sports territory. Baseball had better realize it will be dealing with a different product and consumer when games are finally played.

A best-case scenario, as I pointed out on Saturday, is a Memorial Day Weekend opening. But it could be longer. This will impact the game in a similar way the 1994 strike impacted the game.

We are praying that we all get through this coronavirus pandemic healthy, that is the most important thing. Games are secondary in all sports. But when the games do come back, MLB fans must be welcomed back in a way that truly makes them feel wanted.

When fans leave they just don’t all come back. They find other things to do with their time. Attendance is going to take a hit.

In many ways, MLB just keeps driving fans away with skyrocketing prices on everything from tickets to concessions ($5 for a spring training bottle of water in 85-degree heat) while making the fan experience that much more difficult with overpriced parking to games with endless delays caused by the overuse of technology. Take replay, please.

Technology ignited the Astros (and others) cheating scandal. Because teams were stealing signs electronically, the game slowed to a crawl because the pitcher and catcher having to change signs so often. It appears it won’t be long before umpires will be virtually useless behind the plate with the coming use of electronic strikes and balls calls. Heck, the fan even won’t be able to yell at an umpire, “You stink, you bum that was strike three.’’

When baseball returns more games will be crammed into a tight schedule for max profits meaning a much colder-weather postseason for those fans in cold weather cities. And what about all those junkets where fan groups get on planes and visit other cities and are jammed into a section. That may slow as well.

In general, how comfortable are fans going to be returning to tight spaces in ballparks. The bottom line is the product must get better and fan experience must improve. As for the schedule, don’t burden fans with split doubleheaders. Make it a true doubleheader.

This is a warning shot across the bow of baseball.

With all the down time, MLB needs to get its act in order. Improve the pace of play, tighten up replay. Start there.

As one former manager said the other day at George M. Steinbrenner Field, “Replay was instituted so there would not be any more Jeffrey Maier home runs. Not if somebody’s belt buckle came off the bag sliding into second base.’’

Getting back to ballpark basics is the best way to start. That’s why fans love this game in the first place. That’s when players are at their best, keeping it simple. MLB is at a crossroads in the desert.

The storm is here.

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