Thoughts About the 2020 MLB Season

As the owner of the Internet website "thoughts about baseball dot com," I'd like to officially express my thoughts about Major League Baseball's 2020 season. Namely, I don't think Major League Baseball should go forward with the 2020 season. Don't get me wrong, it makes me terribly sad to envision a whole calendar year without MLB action. Canceling the season would be devastating for everyone who depends on organized baseball for their livelihoods (not to mention mildly annoying for the billionaire owners, who would suffer a loss on their balance sheets, and STILL be left with more money than they could possibly ever spend in a lifetime...)

But here's the thing: everyone who would be devastated by the loss of baseball is ALREADY being devastated by the deadly global pandemic, which is still-raging (in the U.S. at least). And what's more, the very existence of baseball threatens to make the pandemic worse - even without fans in the stadiums, there's still a huge network of players, coaches, trainers, and essential staff (and their personal networks, and networks of networks, etc.) who are being put at risk. And for what? For a sporting event? Baseball might be our national pastime, but at bottom it's also just entertainment.

And while missing the season would undoubtedly be bad for baseball as a whole, who's to say what ramifications await us if the season goes forward as planned? How many players will get sick and have LASTING respiratory problems, which will affect the landscape of the sport through multiple future seasons? Because you can't have an effective baseball season unless the players are healthy and able to play. And the players can't be healthy and able play if there's still no end in sight for this pandemic. And the quickest way to end the pandemic is to avoid dangerous, disease-spreading activities such as professional baseball. (Coupled with basic human decency practices, such as wearing a mask.) The logic seems flawless to me, but I don't know, I'm just a Philosophy major...

So yes, 2020 without MLB would be Bad For Baseball, but it would also be Good For Public Health. And which is more important right now?