MLB During COVID-19 Behind The Scenes

Before the 2020 season began, New York Yankees reliever Adam Ottavino decided to document what was sure to be one of the most unusual years in MLB history.

Armed with a Leica M240, a trio of lenses and an iPhone, he snapped photos of his teammates and their often surreal surroundings, keeping an eye out for moments that highlighted the quirks, oddities and absurdities of playing professional baseball in the middle of a once-in-a-century pandemic.

Personally I thought this was really cool stuff.

Mikkeller NYC Closing Permanently

We have had to make the difficult decision to permanently close the Mikkeller Brewing NYC location at Citi Field. With no foreseeable customers at Citi Field, Mikkeller is consolidating its NYC brewery with its San Diego brewery and closing Mikkeller NYC.

Rob Manfred says he hopes fans will be able to attend LCS, World Series games

Although MLB has yet to finalize reported plans for postseason bubbles in California and Texas, league commissioner Rob Manfred is already pondering the idea of fans back in the seats for most meaningful playoff games.

“I’m hopeful that the World Series and the LCS we will have limited fan capacity. I think it’s important for us to start back down the road. Obviously it’ll be limited numbers, socially distanced, protection provided for the fans in terms of temperature checks and the like. Kind of the pods like you saw in some of the NFL games. We’ll probably use that same theory. But I do think it’s important as we look forward to 2021 to get back to the idea that live sports, they’re generally outdoors, at least our games. And it’s something that we can get back to.”

Considering that they’re also planning on the playoff bubble, you also have to figure out holding multiple games in a single facility in a single day.

Aubrey Huff Says He Would Rather Die From Coronavirus Than Wear a Mask

“It’s not healthy to breathe in your own CO2 all the time and it seems like everyone is a coronavirus expert. If I God forbid get the coronavirus, here’s what I do: I go home, I get well and I get back and live my life. I would rather die from coronavirus than live the rest of my life in fear and wear a mask.”

Huff is not new to controversial comments.

Ballpark Peanuts, a Classic Summer Pleasure, Have Been Benched

Today, most of the 2.3 million pounds of in-shell peanuts consumed during a typical baseball season are languishing in cold storage, waiting — like the fans — for an opening day at the park that is unlikely to come. Baseball teams both minor and major are trying to find a way to schedule a season, but there will be no one in the stands to shell out $4 or $5 for a bag of peanuts.

Szymborski: One Giant Tournament Might Be Better Than a 50-Game Season

When I look at these standings, one burning question pops into my head: Why?

At 50 games, the ability to meaningfully differentiate between the great and the good, the mediocre and the bad, starts to fade significantly. There’s a one-in-five chance that the winner of the World Series will be a team believed to be .500 or worse. In the last ZiPS projected standings before everything went sideways, that probability was right around 3%; it was 3.7% before the 2019 season.

8th? BBTF Central Park Softball Game: October 3

Let’s start planning for this year’s game. First questions:

1. Who is submitting the permit request? (Answer: Hysterical & Useless)

2. What dates should we aim for? (Answer: July 25 October 3)

3. Where is the post-game destination?