Yesterday was the first official workout for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the majority of teams around the league. Lots of pressers, along with plenty sights and sounds of players baseballing. Here’s a brief breakdown of the day.
- Major League Baseball officially canceled the 2020 All-Star Game but awarded 2022 back to the Dodgers and Los Angeles. The Atlanta Braves are slated to hold the All-Star break festivities in 2021, making 2022 the earliest Los Angeles could host. Fans who purchased tickets for this year’s ASG can either hold onto them for 2022 or get them refunded beginning on Monday.
- Dodgers team president Stan Kasten held a conference call via Zoom, where he revealed July 23 as the Dodgers opening game. It was reported over a week ago that most of the league will open their season on July 24 but that four teams would start their season one day. Reports have the Yankees, Nationals, and now the Dodgers as three of the four teams to kick off the MLB season with the first two games. The Dodgers opponent will likely be from the NL or AL West divisions, but for the moment, it’s assumed to be the San Francisco Giants.
- Also revealed in Kasten’s Zoom call:
- There might be players who decide to opt-out of playing the 2020 season, but he doesn’t have all the names yet.
- The team is contemplating scenarios for fans in the stands but will only be lived out, local government and health officials permitting.
- The season will continue as long as there is an “acceptable level of incidents.” The league hasn’t clarified what the “acceptable level” is.
- According to Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline, the Dodgers inked their 2020 3rd round pick, Jake Vogel, for $1+ million over slot value.
3rd-rder Jake Vogel signs with @Dodgers for $1,622,500 (slot 100 value = $581,600). California HS OF, outstanding speed, makes a lot of contact, quality defender with solid arm as well. UCLA recruit. @MLBDraft #MakeAWish
— Jim Callis (@jimcallisMLB) July 3, 2020
- The league released the results from the first batch of COVID-19 tests.
The initial COVID-19 results from MLB are in. 38 out of 3,185 tests came back positive (1.2%). 31 players and 7 staff tested positive. pic.twitter.com/m5y1Ctthzz
— Dodgers-LowDown (@DodgersLowDown) July 3, 2020
- Many players were not in camp for reasons unknown except that they weren’t of any group opting out of the season, according to Dave Roberts. The names of these players weren’t revealed.
- Friday was the first official team workout. Here’s some visual content of yesterdays happenings:
Sound on 🔊
(🎥: @alannarizzo) pic.twitter.com/3YntG4MJ8k
— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) July 3, 2020
.@ClaytonKersh22 on being back at the stadium this week, taking accountability for being safe and building up his innings for the season. pic.twitter.com/bLEDG3MT1k
— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) July 4, 2020
"I think if there's a championship to be won, we're going to do everything in our power to win that championship." @redturn2 on the legitimacy of a championship won from a 60-game season. pic.twitter.com/Q052H2r4u0
— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) July 4, 2020
"Good swing!"pic.twitter.com/5gWKzvwgUG
— Dodgers-LowDown (@DodgersLowDown) July 4, 2020
🚨MOOKIE BETTS TAKING BP AT DODGER STADIUM ALERT THIS IS NOT A DRILL 🚨 (via @billplunkettocr) pic.twitter.com/uEgEeuY8yT
— Dodgers-LowDown (@DodgersLowDown) July 4, 2020
Oskar is a writer for Dodgers-Lowdown. Follow him on Twitter @2Rawsko94. Graphic credit: Alberto Amezola, Jr.