Philadelphia Phillies and Major League Baseball COVID19 Pandemic Delay Day 14.
The Commissioner of Baseball, Rob Manfred, appeared on ESPN’s SportsCenter on Wednesday night for a brief interview with host Scott Van Pelt. During the interview Manfred addressed a number of issues relating to the current 2020 season delay due to the pandemic and possibilities for starting the season.
Manfred stated that MLB has ongoing input from the CDC, the WHO, and their own team of experts. He also has been in conversations with other sports league officials regarding possible re-starts of the sports industry as a whole.
On March 16, President Donald Trump released guidelines for America under the “15 Day to Slow the Spread” plan. The President has set a loose goal of Easter Sunday to get American business going again. Hopefully we will get some idea as to MLB plans regarding the 2020 season sometime soon after that point.
Get your updates on the coronavirus pandemic from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and the NIH (National Institutes of Health. Also, the City of Philadelphia has issued a Business Activity and Stay at Home Order.
Now for the latest Philadelphia Phillies and Major League Baseball news from local and national resources:
Matt Breen at The Inquirer wrote on what happened for the Phillies the last time that spring training was cancelled by baseball, prior to the 1980 season. These circumstances from that year sound eerily familiar:
“The news broke when the Phillies were more than 100 miles from Clearwater, where a new manager conducted his first Phillies camp, the previous winter’s free-agent splash was settling in for Year No. 2, another star player was looking for a new contract, and questions hovered around the back of the starting rotation.”
Bob Brookover at The Inquirer wrote on this Opening Day without baseball:
“…baseball’s opening day is among the most treasured of sporting events, which is why it stings so much that the earliest scheduled starting date in baseball history has arrived and all the games have been wiped out by a virus that did not even exist when the Washington Nationals won the World Series in October.”
FLYIN’ HAWAIIAN ON A POD
Former Phillies star center fielder Shane Victorino joined Buster Olney on the ESPN Baseball Tonight podcast, talking Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Charlie Manuel, and the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal. You can listen below.
RHYS ON THE SHOW
This afternoon at 4:10 p.m. EDT you can enjoy the Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins facing off against Miami Marlins shortstop Miguel Rojas in MLB The Show via a YouTube live stream.
OPENING DAY AT HOME
Major League Baseball is presenting a special “Opening Day at Home” series of broadcasts, one victory for each of baseball’s 30 teams. All games will be streamed on MLB.com, as well as through one of MLB’s social media channels, on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube. By using the hashtag #OpeningDayAtHome, fans can connect with each other while watching their team’s selected game at a set time.
The Phillies were up early on Thursday morning at 9:00 a.m., with last year’s thrilling, dramatic, walkoff grand slam by Bryce Harper to beat the Chicago Cubs at Citizens Bank Park shown.
MLB Network will be showing five full games lasting all day long on Thursday.
We’ll be keeping you updated here at Phillies Bell on all the latest in this daily Lunch Bell report, scheduled to be released between 11:30-12:30 daily. It will include articles curated from around the web as well as any breaking news. During the pandemic we will include any relevant updates in that regard as well.
My apologies that today’s Lunch Bell is a bit late. That will happen from time to time due to circumstances beyond our control. Be assured that it will always be the goal to present the piece during the lunch hour, or as soon thereafter as possible.
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MATT VEASEY 