MLB to skip playoffs to avoid champions to investigate

With the MLB season suspended indefinitely due to the coronavirus outbreak, all sports fans have been distraught with withdrawal. Fans of every allegiance have been using social media to form alliances on activities to do together without the presence of live sports to watch. Even Orioles fans want baseball back. One Orioles fan took to Facebook to express their frustration.

Hey friends. Anybody want to use Zoom to watch the 1983 World Series? If not, I am also down to watch a more realistic simulation of the current state of the Orioles, like this incredible TikTok of two guys repeatedly crashing into a wall. I’ll do anything to remind me of baseball right now, even if it is reminders of my god awful team that claim they play Major League Baseball. Hit me up if you’re down!

Red Sox Nation got in on the act too, with one fan taking her pitch to Twitter on Day 17 of the quarantine.

Anybody want to watch some bowling tournaments? I’m out of Red Sox highlights to get through quarantine.

Unfortunately, this tweet was deleted soon after due to the incessant banter by fellow Sox fans about how bowling would remind everybody way too much about the fact that Mookie Betts is no longer on the team.

While baseball is close to many of our hearts, the lack of sports has reached far beyond the baseball community. Here is a professional Rocket League player reaching out to his fans.

I love my job 'cos I can continue despite a global pandemic, but I miss watching other sports so much that I’ll even watch baseball.

Photo via ABC7 New York

Through the turmoil, Commissioner Rob Manfred has had a lot on his plate, including decision-making about whether the 2020 season will occur at all. Even if it does, with what consequences? First-ballot hall of famer Mariano Rivera recently said "I don’t think you can play a 60-game season and call yourself a champion," confirming that MLB will probably be fine if they make the season 71 games long for Rivera’s championships to count but not any shorter.

Until we have more information on when it could be safe to play baseball again, we aren’t likely to hear any confirmation from the commissioner’s office on the status of the baseball season. In any case, even if he has made a decision by now, he probably won’t announce it until Thanksgiving because he probably won’t have time to do so.

However, recent reports have rumored that MLB has had meetings with team owners and the players association to discuss the future of baseball and how to improve pace of play as well as profit for the league. If the reports are true, for all future seasons of Major League Baseball, there will be no postseason. Instead, there will be a regular season (of currently undetermined length) and no champion at the end.

Commissioner Rob Manfred has drafted the following announcement, leaked by a Yankees reporter who has a close relationship with Manfred’s family and also happens to work for the team as an Apple watch supplier.

It is currently our top priority to make the best decisions possible for the 2020 season to unfold in an exciting fashion. Whether or not those decisions are correct is an evaluation we don’t have much time to make right now. Hence, we have decided to think futuristically about the game of baseball and make a decision that saves time, effort, and health for players, fans, and front offices, but most importantly my social life.

To accomplish this, beginning in 2021, Major League Baseball will only contain a regular season, with no playoffs or championship game. In particular, no champion will be determined at the end of a season. While this decision was tough, we decided that it was in the best interest of everybody involved, since a search for a World Series champion involves intensive labor that is just not worth the cons. The existence of a champion team every season involves us having to investigate all of their action on the field during the season to assure ourselves that they played the game with integrity. A removal of a champion avoids the work we need to put in to investigate teams. Furthermore, considering the direction in which baseball is headed, being present at the World Series may soon result in boos every time they show my stupid face on the big screen. And believe me, I ain’t tryin’ to be no Roger Goodell.

To accommodate the workers in baseball who get paychecks for their efforts during the postseason, we have decided to cut those salaries associated with October baseball to encourage everybody to prepare for the offseason by getting a job that’s more meaningful than their summer job in baseball. Through this, we hope to inspire the next generation of baseball players and front office hopefuls by making them realize that a World Series is just a piece of metal and people shouldn’t be wasting their times trying to entertain others just to wear a big fat ring on their finger.

Manfred's decision should come as no shock to avid baseball fans who understand his true motives as commissioner — to destroy the game’s credibility, accountability, and marketability. He has come through with every promise he has made to make the process of the baseball season as confusing, inconvenient, and pointless as possible. The decision to eliminate the World Series is likely in baseball’s best interest anyway, so that we don’t have to deal with a "world" that only consists of America and Toronto.

If you haven’t figured it out already, the date is April 1. If you fell for that, you also likely put meat sauce in your grape juice, hummus on your pizza, or guacamole in your pasta. In any case, we hope this prank provided a tinge of entertainment to your quarantine and that you and your friends and family are continuing to take the necessary measures to stay healthy and active, mentally and physically. If you’d like to read real sports content, you can follow the author at @AhaanRungta and read more Red Sox and MLB material on this site here.