harmony

This year I was blessed to attend three college baseball games before the COVID-19 shutdown. I can't remember the scores, much less other stats, and cannot name any of the players. It was just baseball for the fun of it.

We went to an online auction for the first time only last year although all but one of us still gathered in person. The final owner has been Skyped in from Puerto Rico for the past six or seven years, even when we were still announcing our bids out loud.

The fantasy league started in our office in 1991. I joined the office in 1996 and the league in 2001. We've watched our families grow up. A charter member's son, born in 1992, now covers an NBA team as a sportswriter for a major metropolitan newspaper. We currently have a couple of youngsters in their 40s but most of our fantasy owners are in our 60s and 70s.

I wanted my fantasy league, entering its 30th season, to hold the auction as scheduled on March 14 but I was overruled by other owners. The joke is that I'm always ready to hold the auction in October for the following season.

NCAA has canceled all winter and spring seasons: http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/media-center/news/ncaa-cancels-remaining-winter-and-spring-championships ... but has extended eligibility for impacted athletes: https://www.ncaa.com/news/ncaa/article/2020-03-30/division-i-council-extends-eligibility-student-athletes-impacted-covid

NPR "Here & Now" program on elective surgeries: https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/03/31/hospitals-cancel-elective-surgeries

The proposed consolidation bracket would have each team -- win or lose -- keep playing until one team had lost five best-of-seven series.

Those first-round byes would screw up the consolation bracket. Perhaps a 32-team bracket could be filled out with the two respective rosters from the canceled Futures Game. Could be a Cinderella team.

Is that much different from the current format? To be precise, opening-round losers play through the consolation bracket until the ultimate loser is crowned.

Beats watching the Orioles and Tigers play for nothing in August.

All teams play four or five best-of-seven series. No regular season.

How about a short-season MLB Madness!? Bracketed like college basketball's March Madness, with seeding per the 2020 draft order, the 2019 league-champion Washington Nationals and Houston Astros would receive first-round byes in the 30-team field. Each match-up would feature a best-of-seven series with the winners advancing and the opening-round losers dropping into the consolation bracket. Fans (and nonfans) can fill out their brackets at the office then cheer for the Cinderella team. And the Seattle Mariners end their playoff drought.

The Red Sox attorney practices out a prominent New York law firm that broke ranks with New York Yankees two decades ago: https://www.cravath.com/lmoskowitz/ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2010-10-21/why-david-boies-left-cravath Good luck on your law school applications. The COVID-19 crisis has thrown a wrench into my daughter's plans to enter law school this fall.

MLB probably has interviewed scores of witnesses regarding the tactics of many clubs. MLB must weigh likely conflicting accounts and pass judgment on the credibility of each witness before rendering conclusions. The Red Sox may be cleared of any wrongdoing but recently a Red Sox attorney reportedly stated in court: When the judge asked whether the Red Sox admit violations of the rules in 2018 the attorney reportedly refused to admit violations, according to this account: https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2020/03/20/lawyer-for-red-sox-suggests-that-team-is-aware-of-mlb-cheating-report-findings

Why did righthander Mike Fiers single out only the Astros among his four MLB clubs, two of which came after his tenure in Houston? Most teams likely steal signs on some level but many clubs probably know where to draw the line. Or not.

As technology evolves the MLB rules evolve. https://www.si.com/mlb/2019/02/19/major-league-baseball-sign-stealing-rule-change A practice that fell within a gray area one season may be a clear violation the next year ... or not.

No one disputes that teams have stolen sign forever. https://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/01/sports/sports-of-the-times-branca-knew-51-giants-stole-signs.html The issue is whether all current teams have illegally used technology to steal signs. I've seen no report that Mike Fiers turned in his other teams for an illegal use of technology.

Righthander Mike Fiers, who reportedly turned in the Houston Astros, has played for four teams, including two clubs after the Astros, in his nine-year MLB career. If every team does it, why did Fiers apparently limit his disclosure to the Astros?

MLB has not publicly disclosed "cheating evidence" against the Sox but a Red Sox attorney reportedly disputes "what the commissioner found": https://www.masslive.com/redsox/2020/03/do-boston-red-sox-know-results-of-mlb-sign-stealing-investigation-lawyer-suggests-team-disagrees-with-leagues-findings-report.html From MLB commissioner Rob Manfred on Wednesday regarding the Red Sox investigation: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28955618/rob-manfred-says-table-regarding-mlb-return

In lieu of the suspended Opening Day: Red Sox Opening Day at Home WWW.MLB.COM On Thursday, Major League Baseball presented “Opening Day at Home” -- a full slate of 30 games broadcast nationally across various platforms including networks, digital streaming and social media, creating a full-day event on what would have been Opening Day. The experience was intended to invite fans to feel a Yankees Opening Day at Home WWW.MLB.COM On Thursday, Major League Baseball presented “Opening Day at Home” -- a full slate of 30 games broadcast nationally across various platforms, including networks, digital streaming and social media, creating a full-day event on what would have been Opening Day. The experience was intended to invite fans to feel a

Here is the Florida governor's executive order regarding "Non-essential Elective Medical Procedures": https://3o15h033zmpwracwx2i00rqx-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/EO-20-72.pdf

The conspiracy theorists would cite the relative sizes of the New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston television markets versus the Oakland and Minnesota markets in MLB's revenue-hungry postseason. I am not a conspiracy theorist.

The thriving East Bay may be overshadowed by the San Francisco peninsula and Silicon Valley, but the region has more people than metropolitan Sacramento. The Athletics have experienced regular-season success despite playing in an outdated stadium (where I saw Pedro Martinez pitch a gem in 2000): https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/OAK/OAK200007280.shtml Sacramento has an impressive Triple A stadium: https://www.sutterhealthpark.com/ ... where two years ago I saw a pitching start by then 28-year-old Casey Kelly, the former top Red Sox prospect traded in a 2010 package for Adrian Gonzalez: https://www.milb.com/gameday/aces-vs-river-cats/2018/04/28/543354#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=box,game=543354