How Opening Day may have looked for Texas Rangers had coronavirus not put it on hold
Relative to what he had been doing, Tuesday was a very big day for Shin-Soo Choo.
The Texas Rangers’ leadoff hitter went to Costco.
Eat your heart out, Frank the Tank.
Had the world not stopped earlier this month because of the coronavirus pandemic, Choo would have been at Globe Life Field for an at-bat, maybe two, in a glorified intrasquad game before heading to Seattle.
Opening Day 2020 was supposed to be Thursday.
That, of course, was scrapped what seems like long ago. In reality, it was less than two weeks ago.
But so much has happened, leaving in its wake so much uncertainty. Baseball’s uncertainty doesn’t rank very high on the priorities list.
It’s there, though, and issues are being worked through by MLB and the MLB Players Association. More is going into this than just rescheduling games, like how service time will be handled and how much players will be paid.
And what about compensating seasonal employees? Is there going to be a draft?
All things are reportedly being addressed, including various scenarios the 2020 MLB season.
The goal is to squeeze as many of the 162 originally scheduled games into two or three months fewer than usual. Doubleheaders will be played. The regular season could stretch into October. The postseason could be played at neutral sites in warm-weather cities or in cities with domed stadiums.
These are extraordinary times for baseball, which last missed its Opening Day in 1995 because of a player lockout that delayed spring training and cut the regular season to 144 games.
The Rangers were scheduled to be at T-Mobile Park for a season-opening four-game series against the Seattle Mariners. They would have had until Thursday morning to submit their 26-man active roster before the 3:10 p.m. first pitch.
Forecast high: 50 degrees, but it would have felt like 40.
It’s likely most roster spots would have been awarded over the final few days of spring training. Blake Swihart, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Matt Duffy and others on the bubble would probably know if they were headed to Seattle or Triple A Nashville, or opting out of their minor-league deals.
General manager Jon Daniels has been known to pull a waiver-wire surprise in the days leading to the opener. He did it last season by claiming right-hander Kyle Dowdy the day before the lid-lifter.
Willie Calhoun (broken jaw) and Jesse Chavez (elbow) would have opened on the injured list. Jeff Mathis (hamstring) and Jose Trevino (finger) might have, too.
The guess here is that Lance Lynn would have been the Opening Day starter. Mike Minor, who is on baby watch, could have started the second game.
But they will all be healthy and available when baseball cranks up again, perhaps first with a return trip to Arizona for some spring training games.
If you think you hate spring training now, wait until it’s summer training.
At that point, when it’s 105 degrees at Maryvale Park and 92 with 90 percent humidity in Florida for the Grapefruit League, it might occur to the sweaty players, coaches, fans and beer vendors if there really needs to be a baseball season.
The answer should be yes.
MLB is planning to say yes.
Coronavirus, government officials and doctors and scientists are still formulating the final answer.
