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MLB Proposes’ Arizona Plan’

MLB officials and teams are working nonstop behind the scenes to figure out a way to make sure the 2020 baseball season happens. Top ranking officials told USA Today the plan is one of several and is only a possibility at this point. The change would shorten the season, and teams would be separated into six divisions.

The plan would be for half the teams to play their games in Arizona and the other half to play their games in Florida. The league’s names would be changed to “Cactus League” and “Grapefruit League.”

The idea behind the plan is to limit travel as much as possible for not only athletes but families and workers as well.

The official says the plan would allow teams to return to their spring training sites for three weeks of training. Teams are allowed to schedule exhibition games during those three weeks.

The Grapefruit League North would consist of the Yankees, Phillies, Blue Jays, Tigers, and Pirates. Grapefruit South would be the Red Sox, Twins, Braves, Rays, and Orioles. Grapefruit East would be the Nationals, Astros, Mets, Cardinals, and Marlins.

The Cactus League Northeast would consist of the Cubs, Giants, Diamondbacks, Rockies, and Athletics. The Cactus League West would be the Dodgers, White Sox, Reds, Indians, and Angels. The Cactus League Northwest would be the Brewers, Padres, Mariners, Rangers, and Royals.

Trying To Be Creative

“When you’re trying to get really creative, why says no now?” says Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa, the Angels’ senior adviser of baseball operations. “So you have a unique season. I’ve got no problem with that.

“I’m not sure we’ll be able to play in our own cities across the country, so if you split it up like that, it’s a possibility.”

The plan for the World Series is to have the winner of the Cactus League to play the winner of the Grapefruit League in one of the domed stadiums in late November.

If MLB decided to go forward with its Florida-Arizona plan, the league would have a combined 26 different baseball stadiums to schedule games at, which is plenty. The plan is a headache logistically, and officials may have trouble with quarantine rules.

The rules make it difficult for family members to see their athletes perform, or even see them at all for that matter.

This would be a very exciting move for not only sports fans around the world but the television higher-ups as well. If MLB were to use this plan, the league could stream games throughout the entirety of the day, every day. With nobody being allowed to go anywhere, ratings would be through the roof.

The official wanted it to be known that none of this is set in stone, and there are many options and possibilities on the table at this point.

“There are so many workable possibilities,” La Russa says, “why give up on any alternative until it’s clear it can’t work?

“What we can’t do is give up.”

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