News and Notes: April 7, 2020

Here’s the latest news from around the diamond as we head into mid-April:

• MLB is considering holding at least part of the 2020 season in Arizona as a way to potentially fit a full schedule into the abbreviated time remaining after the COVID-19 pandemic eventually ends. Although some of the Spring Training facilities in Arizona are excellent, the attendance would be potentially problematic, as would the lost jobs for vendors and employees who depend upon MLB stadia for their livelihoods. Nonetheless, this may be a solution - albeit an imperfect one - for ensuring something close to a full season’s worth of games in 2020.
• Sara Sanchez’s daily diary at Bleed Cubbie Blue remains among the best reading material out there in this bleak, baseball-less world. Whether or not you’re a fan of Chicago’s North Siders, it’s worth the daily read.
• Camden Chat looks back at the opening of Oriole Park at Camden Yards, one of the game’s most idyllic ballparks and a stadium which is widely credited with heralding the era of the modern ballpark. Camden Yards is already 28 years old, which makes it older than several stadia no longer in use - including, most notably, Atlanta’s Turner Field and the Rangers’ Ballpark at Arlington.