Covid Already Crushing Baseball, Spirits

Certainly didn't take long for Covid-19 to rear it's ugly head in Major League Baseball's 60-game season.

On Saturday, just two games in, four members of the Miami Marlins tested positive. The Marlins went ahead with their game Sunday. And now we're up to nearly a dozen positive cases on the team. Scheduled to start a two-game series in Baltimore, the Marlins team was still in Philadelphia as this is being written.

Of course, their opening game in Miami has been scratched. And the scheduled game tonight between the New York Yankees and the Phillies in Philadelphia has been postponed.

Since MLB was trying to get 60 games played in roughly 67 days, any sort of delay, be it weather or sickness, makes things dicey.

The obvious question: If games are cancelled, and can't be made up, does the team forced to cancel (in this case, Miami) forfeit the game? If the team is sidelined for, say, six games, are they all forfeits, and count as wins for their opponents?

Don't see how can handle it any other way. You can bet the suits in MLB's headquarters are trying to get a handle on it right now.

Who knew this season might come down to a war of attrition, with the last healthy team left standing claiming the championship?

Welcome To The New Baseball

In case you haven't noticed, baseball is just a bit different this year.

Start with the 60-game schedule, turning the season into a sprint from a marathon, and move on fro there.

Designated Hitter in the National League? Check. Gotta admit, I do like the managerial chess match that comes from pitching changes, pinch hitters and the like. But, at least for this season, I'm fine with the Senior Circuit going with the DH. But it sure will make for some interesting options. As will having a relief pitcher face a minimum of three hitters or finish an inning.

Then there's the expanded playoffs, from 10 teams to 16. This breaks down to the divisional champion and runner-up making the playoffs, plus two wild card teams. As long as it doesn't push the World Series into November and beyond, sounds good to me. IF baseball stays with this format in the future, tho, it had better shorten the regular season. Could see it going back downs to 154 games. Or even to 146. A larger playoff  field means more television money shared among all teams, so the owners might go for that.

How about Toronto's Blue Jays? Banned from playing at home by the Canadian government (due to the surging Covid-19 numbers in the US, Canada wasn't comfortable with the back-and-forth flights. So, up until this past weekend, the Blue Jays were without a home. They thought they had one in Pittsburgh, but Pennsylvania said no to that. Baltimore was tossed around as a potential perch, but that didn't work out.

So the Blue Jays will now nest in Buffalo, home of their Triple A ballclub, the Bison. The organization will have to do a few improvements to bring the stadium up to snuff, like lights for night games (think television).  As an aside, I'm probably the only one in the state of Wisconsin who owns a Buffalo Bison hat. Have had that since the late 1980s, thanks to a business trip by my wife.

About those "crowds" we saw during Saturday's Brewers-Cubs game: cute attempt. Looked like they were laid in from a video game. A step up from the over-size photos we're seeing in a lot of ballparks (where's that dude in the orange Marlins hoody who is always seated behind home plate?)  They should have mixed into the video crowd some mustard-stained shirts, spilled beer, overweight fans and a fight or two. This was a Milwaukee-Chicago game, so some realism would be nice.

Speaking of fights, I thought we would see one Saturday when the dugouts emptied. There has always trash talk coming from dugouts, but without crowds, the players can actually hear what the opposition is saying. Javy Baez has always been a little chirpie, and when he took exception to an inside pitch, the Milwaukee dugout gave him some grief. Javy didn't care for it, and both benches emptied to mill around in front of their dugouts.

Guess the baseball powers-that-be have made it VERY clear that there should be no on-field dust-ups, to maintain social distancing, etc. Pity.

AT LAST! A Little Taste Of 'Normal"

Couldn't believe my eyes when I flipped open the morning sports section. Lo and behold, actual Major League Baseball box scores! 

Have always found it enjoyable, a great start to my morning. Pour a cup of coffee (or as Ol' 61 likes to call it, jitter juice) and go over the previous day's baseball box scores. Hell, in some cases (West Coast tilts), I'll turn to the internet and recap the action.

Just seems like there's a little bit of normal to it all. And since we've been so ABNORMAL for months now, having baseball to follow again is great. For how long? Well, that remains to be seen.

Gotta say, tho, it was pretty strange watching the Brewers-Cubs game last night from the friendly confines of Chicago's Wrigley Field. No fans, no crowd noise. But hey, they were playing baseball so take the positives where you can.

NFL camps are opening up, which adds to the normal feel. No exhibition/preseason games this year, with is fine with me. Never a big fan of football when you see a bunch of guys who are saying "I played pro ball...you want fries with that?" Always did consider that bogus preseason to be too long. Hell, expand the rosters and taxi squads, give teams a little more leeway on cut-downs and let it go at that.

Speaking of the NFL, I see where the franchise in D.C. will be known as the Washington Football Team. At least until they can decide on a name and logo that all can agree upon.

They missed the boat here.

Should have called it Washington Team Football. Then we could all refer to them as the WTFs. Slap that on the ol' helmet. Or a forehead slap emoji. Either way it pretty much defines what is going on in Washington, and nationally, these days.

High schools are pretty much in a quandary when it comes to the status of fall sports. Some, like golf or cross country, will have no problem getting going. Football, on the other hand, is an issue. Might we see some fall sports pushed to spring, and spring sports to summer? Highly possible. Can't blame school districts for trying to err on the safe side.

Covid-19 And Baseball (Fantasy & Otherwise)

My oh my, but this Covid-19 business has really messed with my fantasy baseball leagues! Players contract it, or decide to stay home, and it just screwed up the draft we had, though my Yogi&Ueck remains ever optimistic.

As for real baseball, well the 60-game season becomes a sprint, not a 162-game marathon. It all starts today, while the Milwaukee Brewers will take on the Cubs in Chicago tomorrow.

Despite the uncertainties -- will the Toronto Blue Jays find a 'perch' for the season after Canada put up the STAY OUT sign and Pennsylvania passed? Will we even get 60 games in? But we're all happy to have baseball back, right? Having baseball to watch/listen to again puts many of us in a better mood. Can't believe that we've had to wait this long, but totally understand it.

AS FOR the Milwaukee Brewers, I'm predicting a 35-25 record. Ever the optimist, I think Manager Craig Counsell and his staff will be able to handle this season just fine. Look for Christian Yelich to to shine, leading the BrewCrew on the field.

And this will no doubt be the farewell tour for Ryan Braun. Pity that he tarnished his image with the Brewers with that drug issue. Personally, I'm happy to say goodbye to Ryan, wish him well and move on.

My Favorite Golfer Is Ageless

My favorite golfer is not a professional. He doesn't come close to par these days. His drives and irons don't have the distance they once did. But he still chips and putts like a demon.

And trash talks.

Don Klink is a young 88, a number he put up earlier this summer. While I'm in my 14th season playing in  The Gisholt Golf League, Don's been a member for over 40 years. ("It's either 41 or 42," he admits during a recent round. "I either started in the league in 1978 or '79. I got recruited by Dick Saunders."

The Gisholt League is the oldest continuous golf league in Madison, calling Odana Hills Golf Course home. It's technically the Gisholt Retirement League, named for Gisholt Machine Company.

I looked into a bit of the history on this. Founded in 1889 by John A. Johnson, it was named after a childhood vacation home in Norway. The company won a prestigious gold medal for turrent lathes at the 1900 Paris World's Fair. Gisholt was acquired by Giddings & Lewis in 1966, but the Gisholt name reportedly lasted until 1970.

 "I was the first non-Gisholt employee or family member in the league, " Don explained. "They were running out of former Gisholt employees by then."

Here's a tip of the cap to Don. While he hinted at stepping away several years ago, here's a hope he keeps coming back for several years. As Don says, "I have 24 friends in this (league) and I really enjoy them. That keeps me coming back."

We all want to be like Don -- playing well and enjoying life, not letting a number (age) define us!

Ideas Whose Time Have Come

We're all still slogging along with Covid-19, with the NBA heading to the bubble to finish the season and Major League Baseball eyeballing an end-of-the-month start.

Meanwhile, the NFL is still looking optimistically at a 2020 season. This past week, the league announced a reduction in pre-season games from four to two.

I know that, maybe a year or more ago, I talked about this option. At the time, it was a move that would push the NFL to an 18-game regular season. I still think that is on the near horizon -- and while Covid-19 makes a good reason to reduce pre-season games in 2020, don't be surprised if (and when) the NFL makes that permanent. At the time, I compared the NFL to our neighbors to the north, the Canadian Football League, which has two pre-season games, an 18-game regular season schedule AND two bye weeks (to the NFL's one).

This schedule sounds pretty reasonable to me.

AND WHILE WE'RE talking about the NFL, how about the increased chatter to finally drop Redskins as the Washington team name. It's inappropriate as all get-out. Time for Washington owner Dan Snyder to get with the times.

Am all in favor of keeping the maroon & gold color scheme. Let's just change the moniker. Don't have anything to suggest at this point, but, seriously, let's move forward.

Taking A Trip In The Golf Time Machine

We shop around for golf deals all season long. Gary, my league golf partner for 14 years, and I like to try new courses from time to time.

Recently, we went up to hit a course that I haven't played in probably 40 years, High Cliff Golf Course. Located near High Cliff State Park, it's mailing address is listed a Sherwood. Nearby are the Fox Valley cities Neenah, Menasha and Appleton.

I have a soft spot in my heart for the Fox Valley, my home for several years. I graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, spent over 15 years cutting my journalistic teeth at the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern, lived in Neenah-Menasha for eight years. Still have great memories (dominating the pool table "Jitter's Bar" for example) and friends there.

High Cliff was a course that, for many years, I played three or four times a year. Then, it had been expanded for a nine hole course to 18, and the back nine was surrounded by fields of corn, soy and alfalfa.

When I saw a deal for the course pop through last spring, I thought it was a great opportunity to head up and show Gary what a neat course it is. Driving up 151 from the Oregon area, we headed to Fond du Lac and up the east side of Lake Winnebago, breaking off 151 and staying on 55. Pretty drive, and not all that long.

But my, oh, my how the High Cliff area has changed. Standing in place of those fields are dozens and dozens of gorgeous (and, I'm sure, pricey) homes. But the course is still great, and challenging. Big, undulating greens. Water. Lots of trees. The place was packed the day we played. So much so that we ended up finding two clubs (both pitching wedges) laying near greens, forgotten by their owners. These found their way to the pro shop, and hopefully to their rightful owners.

Rolled through a little unincorporated burg on Highway 55. Pipe is just north of Brothertown. They were setting up for a Brat Feed to benefit the Pipe Fishing Club, and on our way back things were in full swing. Not a sign of social distancing or masks, but probably plenty of brats 'n brew. Must have been a fishing tournament as well, cuz there were a LOT of pricey bass boats on trailers parked all around the venue.

Baseball Like We've NEVER Seen It

So, here we go. It took the Commissioner of Major League Baseball to mandate a 60-game season, set to start in July.

It's going to be a season like we've never seen before. And, hopefully, we will never see it again!

They've sorted out a schedule that should help the Milwaukee Brewers -- 10 games (home and home) with their NL Central teams (Reds, Cubs, Cardinals, Pirates) and 20 games with teams from the AL Central (White Sox, Royals, Tigers, Twins, Indians). We can live with that.

The 60 game schedule makes EVERY game important and interesting. I like the urgency of this season will have. It's a sprint now, not a marathon. And what happens when a key player is sidelined for 14 days due to Covid-19? Or a whole team, for that matter. Strange times indeed.

How about those rule changes? The Universal DH will help the Brewers (gets that Ryan Braun bat in the lineup without hurting the team's defense) so I'm okay with giving that a shot for the years. How about putting a runner at second in the 10th inning? For this season, that's fine. I get it. Can't have a team playing 18 innings one day and then playing again the next. Not with this shortened season format.

But, I really, really don't want to see baseball go this permanently. As a fan, I happen to like being part of an extra-inning contest. One of my favorite memories is seeing a 15-inning game in the Houston Astro Dome, as the Astros knocked off the Chicago Cubs. (Remember that game, Mild Bill?)

Baseball is still concerned about social distancing on the basepaths. How will that look at first base? Or the shortstop or secondbaseman covering the bag on a steal or double play?

Here's my solution. That that playground standard -- Ghost Runners. We all have years and years of experience with it, stemming from games played when we lacked the right number of players for both sides.

Can you imagine the arguments that would stem from Ghost Runners on double plays or plays at the plate? And could you have them steal bases? Maybe use dice -- hello, Strat-o-matic or Sports Illustrated's Superstar Baseball!

Well, we've all wished for baseball to return. Looks like it will, warts and all!

What's Wrong With This Picture?

I'm starting to view Major League Baseball owners & players as little kids fighting over a toy. The REALLY need someone with authority to step in and settle this once and for all.

Both sides are right, and both sides are wrong. But there HAS to be give & take here or baseball is not only killing off this season but it's future as well. Has neither side learned anything from history?

There's a class at the University of Wisconsin that I wanted to take as a "senior guest" student. Old folks can do that -- one course per semester with the professor's approval, no cost. The beauty is, you do the readings, listen to the lectures BUT you don't do the assigned work or take the tests. (Among my friends and family, I'm sure many thought I did this all through my four years at UW-Oshkosh! My GPA begs to differ, but that's another issue.)

Tried to get into the class, Baseball & Society Since World War II, but it was not in a lecture pit, and with limited space, they prof couldn't let me in. But he did provide me with the reading list for it. One text dealt with breaking the racial barrier, starting with Jackie Robinson. Another was Ball Four, the tell-all diary by Jim Bouton from the early 1970's that changed the way a lot of us looked at professional athletes.

The third was The End Of Baseball As We Knew It: The Players Union, 1960-1981 by Charles P. Korr.

It's an eye-opening, detailed look at the nastiness that has been part of the relationship between MLB's owners the the player's union for well over 40 years. Seems like there has been bad blood forever.

Both sides have an opportunity to set some of that aside at the negotiation table and work through this.

As fans, we need to it to be sooner rather than later.

Please?

Taking the "Sport" Out Of Sportsman

Ran across the following blurb on the Washington Post the other day, and it just made me more than a little angry.

I have a lot of friends and family who hunt and fish. They are sportsman in the true sense of the word, and respect their sport. But I think they will cringe when they see this...as well they should. I just wonder what the logic of this is.

This is the blurb:

The Trump administration is making it easier for hunters to kill bear cubs and wolf pups in Alaska. 

“Hunters will soon be allowed to venture into national parks in Alaska and engage in practices that conservation groups say are reprehensible: baiting hibernating bears from their dens with doughnuts to kill them and using artificial light such as headlamps to scurry into wolf dens to slaughter mothers and their pups,” Darryl Fears reports. “In a final rule that is expected to be published Tuesday (6/9/2020) in the Federal Register, the Trump administration will end a five-year-old ban on the practices, which also include shooting swimming caribou from a boat and targeting animals from airplanes and snowmobiles. It would take effect 30 days after being published.”