FOX體育台標題 :大聯盟即將宣佈中止所有春訓賽事。
原文內容:
Major League Baseball Expected To Suspend Spring Training
By Steve Adams | March 12, 2020 at 11:24am CDT
As sports entities throughout the world take action to minimize the spread of
the coronavirus pandemic, Major League Baseball appears poised to cease play
of Spring Training games. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets that officials
with Grapefruit League clubs in Florida are expecting games to be suspended,
and ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports that executives throughout Major League
Baseball expect that Spring Training play in both the Grapefruit League and
Cactus League will be suspended as soon as today. A conference call between
commissioner Rob Manfred and all 30 MLB owners will be conducted shortly,
Passan adds.
Suspending play of spring contests is a logical first step for the league.
The games don’t count for anything, and teams can continue to ramp up
players for the season in simulated settings — although it’s not yet clear
just when the season for which they’ll be prepping will begin. Joel Sherman
of the New York Post tweets that the majority of team executives to whom he
has spoken are expecting a delay in the start of the season, although there’
s yet to be any word from Major League Baseball itself on that front.
Beyond the likely suspension of MLB exhibition play, it’s worth noting that
the National Basketball Association, Major League Soccer, the Association of
Tennis Professionals and the PGA Tour have all announced measures to curb the
spread of the virus since last night. The NBA suspended its season
indefinitely last night, and both MLS (30 days) and ATP (six weeks) followed
with suspensions of play this morning. The NHL has canceled practice
throughout the league and is readying a statement of its own.
Meanwhile, the PGA just minutes ago announced that the Players Championship
will be played without fans in attendance. That’s the same approach the NCAA
has taken with regard to its annual March Madness tournament. Meanwhile,
individual college conferences throughout the league — the SEC, the Big 10,
the Big 12 and the ACC among them — have taken to canceling their annual
conference tournaments. Overseas, the Korea Baseball Organization and Nippon
Professional Baseball have both delayed the starts of their respective
seasons.
Actions beyond the immediate suspension of spring contests remain unclear,
but quelling the spread of the COVID-19 virus has become paramount. The
potential for asymptomatic carriers spreading the virus to higher-risk
individuals is a real threat — both to the health of those at-risk
individuals and to the functionality of hospitals and medical facilities.
Italy’s hospitals have become overwhelmed as the spread of the virus has
reached critical levels, complicating medical care for patients of the
coronavirus and other illnesses alike. Certainly, it’s in everyone’s best
interest to avoid similar levels of saturation in other countries.
While the postponement or even cancellation of sporting events, concerts and
other mass gatherings is surely a frustrating development for fans — and one
that will raise questions of fan reimbursement, player compensation and
myriad other issues within individual sports — those realities will be
characterized as a necessary byproduct in the effort to combat what the World
Health Organization has characterized as a global pandemic.
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