As baseball fans, we are starved for baseball. Unfortunately, there is absolutely no possible way to watch the sport we love because every league has been shut down due to COVID19. That means it is nothing but classic games and begging for different regional networks to come up with some creative programming which includes broadcasting old seasons.

As bad as things are for fans, it is more difficult for players. They were in Spring Training ramping up for the 2020 season, and now they are shut down with no idea when or if they are ever going to play games again. Keep in mind, this isn’t just their job. The vast majority of Major League players love the sport, and they are itching to play. Some are seemingly willing to throw caution to the wind to do it:

https://twitter.com/Pete_Alonso20/status/1239939244208070669?s=20

Making baseball fun again. ? pic.twitter.com/QFqCJyKJmv

— Trevor Bauer (トレバー・バウアー) (@BauerOutage) March 15, 2020

While you can understand why Pete Alonso and Trevor Bauer may want to play games, they just can’t. That is even the case with Bauer setting up a Go Fund Me in conjunction with his “sandlot” games in order to help out stadium workers. While noble, it increases the risk of the spread of this disease, and to a certain extent, may endanger the very people he looks to help.

On another note, with MLB teams pledging over $30 million, the hope is Bauer’s efforts may not be as necessary. Of course, what happens when that fund runs out is anyone’s guess.

Again, the CDC is telling us to socially isolate for at least 15 days in order to help stop the spread of the disease and help flatten the curve. By doing that, we help protect those who may be the most endanger of dying from the disease, and we also help lessen the burden on what is an increasing over-burdened hospital system.

As we see, professional athletes are not immune to this disease. The first reported case was Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz, and the second was his teammate Donovan Mitchell. The Brooklyn Nets just had four reported cases.

It is not just an NBA problem. The Yankees have two reported cases, and there are bound to be more. We are also seen NHL players begin to contract the disease.

In the end, it is great to see Alonso and Bauer love playing baseball. It is even better they are using their platform to raise money. However, it is just not responsible. They need to do what the vast majority of us are doing and socially isolate to help stop spreading COVID19.

Maybe seeing how players want to play so much, perhaps teams will rethink closing down their Spring Training facilities. After all, those players were in a socially isolated environment and were only subjecting themselves to the same people everyday. Releasing them now to all parts of the world just seems all the more irresponsible now, and it is seemingly counter-productive.

No matter what the case, we see both Alonso and Bauer need to stop their efforts to have these games, and they need to follow everyone’s direction by socially isolating.