Add Texas to the list of states being named as possible locations for neutral-site baseball games.
Major League Baseball reportedly has been kicking around the idea of hosting the 2020 season — at least to start — in Arizona and Florida (where spring training facilities are located). But Texas now is being named as a possible host city, as well, which was first reported Monday by CBS Sports and later confirmed by The Dallas Morning News’ Evan Grant.
“As Major League Baseball searches for ways to start its pandemic-stopped season, the State of Texas’ decision to start re-opening its economy has brought Globe Life Field, among other stadiums in the state, into the conversation as potential hosts sites for a truncated season,” Grant wrote Monday.
“According to three sources Monday, Texas has been discussed in MLB’s latest exercise to find host sites for clusters of teams to reduce travel and risk. CBS Sports first reported the story Monday. MLB has previously discussed teams using sites in Arizona or Arizona and Florida, the two spring training capitols, in various scenarios.”
Globe Life Field is a new facility the Texas Rangers are set to call home this season, and it has a retractable roof. That means all of the MLB Stadiums in the three aforementioned states — Globe Life Field, Minute Maid Park, Chase Field, Marlins Park and Tropicana Field — either have a retractable roof or a dome. That’s an obvious plus considering the three states get remarkably hot in the summer.
Of course, all of this is fluid, and all ideas therefore should be taken with a grain of salt. However, Dr. Anthony Fauci can see a path back to baseball this summer — maybe even with fans — and it sounds like MLB is trying to make that happen.
