St. Louis Cardinals: Possible Opening Day in Arizona?

St. Louis Cardinals fans, as with the rest of baseball fans, are passionately waiting for the start of the 2020 MLB season. Is an Opening Day in the desert on the horizon?

On Saturday night, I was scrolling through my Twitter page when I found this interesting nugget retweeted:

Could we have baseball after all?

On the surface, a July 1st start date directly follows the Center for Disease Control guidelines for no gatherings until mid-May. Both MLB and the players union agreed to a deal to play as many games as possible this year, including playing postseason games at neutral venues. Even when the season actually resumes, MLB will prepare for games without fans.

So, are we all ready to come together, sing kumbayah, and watch our favorite game for real? Let’s pump the brakes.

First off, when breaking news like this comes out, it is usually reported over time by other additional outlets like The Athletic, ESPN, etc. So far…we have heard nothing. No confirmation. Zip.

Last Friday, Ken Rosenthal, along with Evan Drellich and Jayson Stark, wrote about the feasibility of having MLB teams play in isolated spring training venues in Arizona and Florida. This idea might be the best situation outside of not playing at all, but even then it might not be possible.

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Let’s say MLB wants to focus on just Arizona. Rosenthal notes in his article that teams need to keep everyone, from players to bus drivers healthy and quarantined. This would require outside assistance, which means taking help away from the general public during a pandemic.

Talk about a PR nightmare.

Right now, there are over 2,000 cases of COVID-19 in Arizona, and over half the cases are in Maricopa County, where all Cactus League venues are located. If Rob Manfred was to allow these games to happen, and various MLB players and employees were to get sick from the coronavirus, it would easily be his biggest failure as commissioner.

So what does this mean for the Cardinals and Cardinals’ fans?

For both the team and for the fanbase, baseball is back. This prolonged absence from the game has led us craving for the game to return. It has been a missing void in our lives. That said, the Cardinals, as with all Major League Baseball teams, will miss the extra edge their fanbase gives them. No one has a home-field advantage.

The Cardinals have always held a strong contingent of fans at different ballparks across the map, and Chase Field in Phoenix is no different. Redbird fans will not be able to visit different stadiums, such as Fenway Park, Rogers Centre, and Tropicana Field for inter-league games.

So could MLB open up its season on July 1st? It’s possible, but obviously it depends on the public health status. Perhaps the warmer weather will start killing off the virus? We can only hope.