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Play Ball! Major League Baseball to Start Shortened Season

时间:2020-07-22 23:58:52

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Professional Baseball usually starts in April. But the public health emergency caused by the coronavirus has forced the cancellation1 of almost all sports – even the national pastime.

This month, 30 Major League Baseball teams from 28 cities are planning to start a shortened 60-game season with no fans in attendance.

Public health experts have voiced a number of opinions about whether Major League Baseball's plan can succeed.

The first two games will take place between the Yankees and Nationals in Washington, D.C. and the Giants and Dodgers2 in Los Angeles on July 23.

"Baseball games can work," said Dr. David Hamer, a professor of public health at the Boston University School of Public Health. "I think it's feasible."

Dr. Amesh Adalja, who works for the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in Baltimore, Maryland has concerns. "There are certain sports that are higher risk versus3 lower risk," he said.

"Baseball," he added, "is sort of an intermediate risk.

However, Dr. Zach Binney, an epidemiologist at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, warns: "It could be a disaster."

Testing and other measures

Some experts are hopeful for the baseball season because of the nature of the game. Baseball involves less contact and risk than basketball, American football or hockey. However, players and their families will have to carry out measures to avoid getting infected away from the playing field.

The National Basketball Association is playing all of its games in one place, Orlando, Florida. The National Hockey League will only have games in two Canadian cities. But, baseball teams will travel around the country.

Players will be tested every 48 hours. Masks, covering the mouth and nose, and social distancing, staying about two meters apart, will also be required – except on the field.

There will be additional restrictions4. Players will be banned from spitting, licking their fingers or eating sunflower seeds. Mascots6 will not be permitted to approach players.

Baseball officials have made rules for air travel, bus travel, private cars and hotels. They have given guidelines calling for avoiding contact with people outside the baseball world.

The players have prepared with two weeks of camps and the results appear hopeful.

With its current testing program, Major League Baseball says only 0.4 percent of tests have shown infections since June 27. That is far below the national average of 9 percent.

But there have also been problems. Delays slowed testing around the July 4 holiday weekend. And, so far, all but two of the 30 teams have had at least one person infected with the coronavirus.

But the preventive measures and low infection rate have led many observers to be hopeful. "That's a good starting point," said Hamer of Boston Medical Center. He has advised other professional sports teams.

Testing is very important to Major League Baseball's plan. The organization is carrying out about 10,000 tests weekly. The league is using private laboratories to process the tests to avoid placing too much pressure on public testing centers.

Experts are not worried that traveling teams might endanger communities. The groups will be relatively7 small. They also will use private transportation. Observers note that if there are a lot of infections, it will likely be from players getting infected in the community from social contact.

Delayed professional baseball seasons have already started in Taiwan and Japan.

Crowds at games?

Owners of the New York Yankees, Texas Rangers8 and Houston Astros have said they hope to have limited-attendance games by the end of the season.

But Binney of Emory University says that is the one way professional baseball could present a serious health risk – by permitting fans to attend the games. Binney said the idea was "completely unreasonable9" until a vaccine10 is developed.

Binney added that such a move would add risk to public health and only help, in his words, "owners and stadium authorities."

But possibly the most troubling problem is not knowing what will happen.

"I don't think you can completely quantify exactly what the risk will be," Adalja said.

I'm Mario Ritter, Jr.

Words in This Story

pastime –n. an activity that you enjoy doing during your free time

feasible –adj. possible to do

certain –pronoun particular members of a group

versus –prep. connecting two possible choices

intermediate –adj. in the middle of two extremes, in between

epidemiologist –n. a person who studies disease spread and control

mascot5 –n. people, animals or objects used as symbols for a group or team and are thought to bring luck

approach –v. to move or become near or nearer to something or someone

camp –n. a place where athletes train before the beginning of a season

stadium a very large usually roofless building that has a large open area surrounded by many rows of seats and that is used for sports events, concerts, etc.

authorities –n. (pl.) people who have power to make decisions or enforce rules

quantify –v. to find out something in a way that can explained often with numbers


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 cancellation BxNzQO     
n.删除,取消
参考例句:
  • Heavy seas can cause cancellation of ferry services.海上风浪太大,可能须要取消渡轮服务。
  • Her cancellation of her trip to Paris upset our plan.她取消了巴黎之行打乱了我们的计划。
2 dodgers 755721a92560aef54a57a481bf981739     
n.躲闪者,欺瞒者( dodger的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • a crackdown on fare dodgers on trains 对火车逃票者的严厉打击
  • But Twain, Howells, and James were jeeringly described by Mencken as "draft-dodgers". 不过吐温、豪威尔斯和詹姆斯都是被门肯讥诮地叫做“逃避兵役的人。” 来自辞典例句
3 versus wi7wU     
prep.以…为对手,对;与…相比之下
参考例句:
  • The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
  • The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。
4 restrictions 81e12dac658cfd4c590486dd6f7523cf     
约束( restriction的名词复数 ); 管制; 制约因素; 带限制性的条件(或规则)
参考例句:
  • I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
  • a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制
5 mascot E7xzm     
n.福神,吉祥的东西
参考例句:
  • The football team's mascot is a goat.足球队的吉祥物是山羊。
  • We had a panda as our mascot.我们把熊猫作为吉详物。
6 mascots aecb9f35e21335e20c5eb14a9f5e4d45     
n.吉祥物( mascot的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • One of the mascots was the platypus. 吉祥物一是鸭嘴兽。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Information on all things Olympic, including logos, mascots, venues,and bid candidates. 所有事情奥林匹克,包括的标识语,吉祥物,地点,和出价候选人的信息。 来自互联网
7 relatively bkqzS3     
adv.比较...地,相对地
参考例句:
  • The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
  • The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。
8 rangers f306109e6f069bca5191deb9b03359e2     
护林者( ranger的名词复数 ); 突击队员
参考例句:
  • Do you know where the Rangers Stadium is? 你知道Rangers体育场在哪吗? 来自超越目标英语 第3册
  • Now I'm a Rangers' fan, so I like to be near the stadium. 现在我是Rangers的爱好者,所以我想离体育场近一点。 来自超越目标英语 第3册
9 unreasonable tjLwm     
adj.不讲道理的,不合情理的,过度的
参考例句:
  • I know that they made the most unreasonable demands on you.我知道他们对你提出了最不合理的要求。
  • They spend an unreasonable amount of money on clothes.他们花在衣服上的钱太多了。
10 vaccine Ki1wv     
n.牛痘苗,疫苗;adj.牛痘的,疫苗的
参考例句:
  • The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
  • She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

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