Officials with the Mississippi Braves were unsure when players would again take to the field and were taking cues from Major League Baseball on when the season would begin.
The Braves’ 2020 home-opener was slated for April 9. However, the season was postponed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
General Manager Pete Laven said the start of the season would be determined largely by when MLB would begin its season.
“It kind of trickles down from there. They have to set their roster before the roster of the AAA team is set, and then the roster of the AA team in Mississippi is set,” he said. “It’s all very much related.”
Laven said it was unsure what the season would look like even once play begins.
“There’s no official template. It all comes back to when the start date is. There are discussions about extending the season,” he said. “We think if MLB gets started, they will likely extend the season past the normal end date. The minor league would follow suit, hopefully.
“It wouldn’t be a long extension, but there would be some additional games in September.”
He wouldn’t say how much the team has been hurt financially as a result of the shutdown. However, he said the summer months are typically busier than the spring.
The Braves’ season was slated for April 9 to September 7, with the playoff slated after that.
Spring training was under way when the season was abruptly canceled.
“I had just flown down to spring training, the day after the NBA suspended operations. It was kind of a domino effect. The next day, all of the major league teams were canceling spring training games,” he said.
Days later, MLB sent players home from spring training and announced that the league would abide by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regulations, meaning no large gatherings until at least mid-May.
Before the season gets under way again, he expects players will return for a truncated camp.
“They won’t go right back into games when the hiatus is lifted,” he said. “They’ll be going down to Florida for sure.”
Meanwhile, Laven said was still looking at how social distancing would impact games this year.
“When crowds are allowed again to gather, we believe there will be some social distancing restrictions. We don’t know what those will be, but we are trying to prepare for any scenario.”
The Braves play at Trustmark Park in Pearl. The stadium can hold up to 8,000 fans.
Average attendance at games runs around 2,700 people. However, some games have 5,000 people or more in the seats, Laven said. Attendance also goes up in the summer months, June, July and August.
Laven didn’t know if certain seats would have to be left vacant, or whether portions of the stadium would have to be put off limits to the public to keep crowd sizes at a minimum.
Either way, he said the Braves staffers are up for the challenge. “I’m a fan first, so I know sitting home watching replays of games from 20 years ago is not cutting it,” he said. “Enjoying a game on a nice summer night is something I hope to experience this year, and from the feedback we’re getting so far, our fans are hoping for that as well.”
