As recently as June, the concept of an expanded Arizona Fall League was under consideration by Major League Baseball. But MLB has now decided to cancel the AFL’s 2020 season, Josh Norris of Baseball America reports.
The AFL is the latest baseball league to fall victim to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has cut this year’s major league season of 162 games to 60 and has canceled the minor league campaign.
Because there’s no minor league ball, teams have placed many of their best young players in their 60-man pool and allowed them to train at their alternate sites. Some of those players will enter their teams’ playoff bubbles or join the fall instructional league. That’s among the reasons there will not be an AFL season this year, per Norris, who adds that MLB had concerns over whether the AFL’s usual sites would have been equipped to handle all of the players, coaches and staff members on each team during a pandemic.
For now, the hope is that the coronavirus will not prevent the 2021 AFL season from occurring. The league’s planning on a normal year then with six teams of 35 players apiece, according to Norris.
I wonder if MLB teams will send a higher number (than usual) of minor league players down under to the ABL (if that’s not affected) to ensure some level of playing time for calendar year 2020 minus the abbreviated spring training?
Great question. This is a major baseball story. With no AFL, a major chunk of player development in 2020 now falls on the individual teams. It will be interesting to see how various organizations handle this. It’s no secret that some teams are more advanced in this area than others.
the ABL is planning on a quasi-bubble with dividing the league in half. i believe they also were exploring temporary expansion, so they seem to be looking to add more prospects.
Is Australia even allowing non-natives into the nation right now?
Every country allows players (or other workers sponsored by their employer) into the country if they serve a quarantine period. A bunch of AAAA-type American pitchers have joined the CPBL recently after spending 14 day quarantines in their hotel rooms.
The ABL already has a team full of Korean prospects, so they’d be more open to having teams full of foreign players than most leagues are (NPB, KBO and CPBL all strictly limit the number of foreign players in order to develop local talent).
We welcome your players with open arms, our stadiums are open (we are in our rugby season at the moment) to the public and we’ll look after them, they enjoy the atmosphere and being treated like royalty.
AFL was cancelled because there is no money in the AFL. So why risk it for no profit?
You couldn’t be more wrong. The heartbeat of Major League Baseball is player development, If a team doesn’t develop good players, what incentive do fans have to spend money supporting the team?
Whens the last time you went to an AFL game?
i would if i lived near one of the clubs. seems like a fun experience.
It’s about player development, not attending AFL games. My post was clear.
Okay snarky mc snarkiton
It’s great 6 or 7 bucks. I get to see some up and coming player’s. And there isn’t enough fans of the stands so social distancing isn’t a problem. Don’t really get this one
I have gone every year since it’s inception. from 10 fans twenty-five years ago to 300 or more in 2019. Best $ in baseball for the fans. (Most of us in the 65 + age group) Just another crappy development for seniors in 2020.
I buy season tickets every year. All of the best prospects in baseball in one place with small crowds and great weather. It’s better than spring training.
You assume the owners are collectively business savvy. I have seen no evidence of this.
Off the top of my head, I can name many owners who are the children of the guy who made the money and presumably had some acumen.
I’m sure they pay the fall league guys nothing. Put the games on MLB Network. They’d likely make money even without fans, and as you said protect their investments in their assets, but…again….this assumes they know what they are doing.
To address the idea that player development is the way they make money. You can develop players without games. In fact, most player development happens outside of games not during so this is such a stupid point. Plus, all teams are hurt by this, so it isn’t even like certain teams are going to be developing players while other wont creating a talent imbalance.
Also, it doesn’t take a MENSA member to look at profit margins and decide if something is profitable or not. The fact that forwhomthejoshbelltolls thinks it takes any sort of brain power to figure out really shows how dumb this guy is.
And darkside830, we know you would buddy. We know.
So, I guess if you ran a restaurant, you’d have the customers eat off the table because you make your profit off the food, not the plates.
Smart.
Wrong again. The point I’ll address is your belief that all teams will be hurt equally. No one in baseball develops players better than the Los Angeles Dodgers. They keep Dodger Stadium open year-round because of this. Brilliantly-run organization. and state-of-the-art facilities. They have more homegrown players on their MLB roster than any team in the sport. Player development is crucial to the team’s success. I guarantee they will find ways to maintain their edge on most other teams. Why? Because they understand that player development leads to bigger profit margins. The starting rotation and up-the-middle defense are completely homegrown. They will not be hurt by this as other teams might. Also, if AFL games don’t help develop players then why play the games?
Not every restaurant has tables and they still manage to make a profit depending on the quality of their product.
Just like not every team needs the AFL or ABL to develop future stars.
forwhomthejoshbelltolls
That response is so freaking dumb. In that analogy it would be like:
If all restaurants stopped using plates and made people eat off tables, would you lose customers to other restaurants? No because everyone has been impacted the same.
Seriously, dude, with as little brain power as you are putting out, how do you manage to find this site?
Cey hey, I can’t tell if you are being deliberately glib or you are actually this dumb. You obviously develop by playing games, but you can have just as much development if not more through personal training development. If you are here to preach the importance of player development, no one is going to disagree with you, but that completely misses my point in a way that actually makes me think you might have brain damage. AFL games do help development, but not so much that it is worth risking spread of the virus. My original point is that development has no impact to whether or not the games get shut down. It comes down to profit, and there isn’t enough profit to risk it. If there was, 100% they would be playing.
So, just to clarify, you believe that businesses should only do things that make them a direct profit?
Which comic book store did you get your economics degree from?
Also, that every team would be affected by a lack of player development is no actual reason to not develop players. And most people understand that playing games is the best way to develop players.
Saving a few pennies on the players they’ve spent millions drafting and developing for years makes no sense.
But, hey, keep angrily asserting everyone else’s purported stupidity while highlighting your own simplicity if it makes you feel better about yourself and life, Champ.
You clarify by making a point I didn’t make. The point I am making is the league is not going to play games that do not make them any money during a pandemic.
Your mom’s.
That isn’t what I said. Are you really this dumb? No one is advocating abandoning player development.
It isn’t saving pennies. It is not risking a health issue if there is no profit. Seriously how many times do I have to say this?
I am sorry my dude, but I don’t know if you realize you aren’t even arguing with my points. You are literally mixing them up to fit some weird argument in your head you think I’m making. I am not even adding on to my argument. I am literally just trying to make you understand the very basic one which you seem to want to ignore.
Politics and control. Everything boils down to control these days. CBA leveraging, milb contraction, etc
Are we talking about the AFL that is only a month long? Or a different AFL? I would assume most player development occurs during the regular minor league season which is significantly longer, not to say there is no development in the AFL, but I highly doubt that without it (and especially if it’s only one season without it) teams are all of a sudden not going to be able to develop MLB caliber players.
THERE IS NO MINOR LEAGUE SEASON. This is these prospects only chance to play in 2020.
So this “they don’t need the AFL because there are other ways to develop players” when those other ways don’t currently exist is a bizarrely insipid argument.
Virginity is making you angry, Steve. Keep saving up. You’ll find a girl to take your money one day.
“You clarify by making a point I didn’t make. The point I am making is the league is not going to play games that do not make them any money during a pandemic.”
Right. You have shown the exact economic ignorance and simplicity that many of the owners also possess. It was the entire point of my comment. Because they are clueless and inherited their money, they don’t know anything more about business than SteveNebraska from MLBTR. Which is nothing.
Businesses (successful ones, at least) routinely invest in things that don’t make them a direct profit. Be it plates at a restaurant or player development in baseball.
The idea that the only thing businesses do is say “profit, yes or no?” when making decisions is how a 5 year old might think economics work.
Or you. Or Bob Nutting Jr.
Thanks for illustrating my point, Champ.
MLB’s whole player development system is going to undergo major overhaul. That is one of the major points in the MiLB plan. Fewer teams, fewer players, more focus on developing the players they have. More teams will also want keep their players under their control during development. AFL is going away this year due to COVID, but don’t be surprised if it is a permanent
I saw Mike Trout play in Cedar Rapids in front of 100 people. I guess they shouldn’t have played that game.
What about the AFL team that had Trout and Harper in the same outfield.
Risk what? Let players choose to play or not. If you do not have enough players to field a league, cancel the league. Go with no fans.
Cey Hey is correct; this is player development. Games are a huge benefit whether you believe it or not.
They should have polled the players. Yay or nay. Coaches too. Yay or nay. If majority say nay, no harm no foul.
wild bill tetley, I am watching Tamp Bay play the Mets right now. The Rays have half the payroll but are a way better team. You and I know it’s because of drafting, scouting, and good old player development. Regardless of market size, that is something all teams can invest in. The AFL evens things up somewhat. Without it, teams like the Pittsburgh Pirates must now find ways to stay level with an organization like Tampa Bay. You can bet the Rays have had countless discussions in 2020 on how to keep developing players as close to normal as possible. They have a blueprint that other teams won’t have.
Rays actually don’t develop guys that well.
Their analytics department is the main driving force behind their low budget success.
Nate Lowe, Snell, Brandon Lowe, Keimaier, Chirinios, Alvarado, Castillo come to mind but vast majority of their pitching they got elsewhere.
Drake, Fairbanks, Glasgow, Morton, Poche, Richards, Anderson, Yarbrough, Roe, Sledgers, Loup, Curtiss, Beeks.
Same with position players. Wendle, Margot, Meadows, Arozarena, Diaz, Choi, Adames, Tsutsugo.
All I know is, there are a lot of people on here that like choice. I’m sure many on here are pro-choice. The point? Why can’t players and coaches have the right to CHOOSE to play the AFL? Why simply cancel without consultation?
I think after 6+ months we are aware of the ramifications of this virus. We are aware of the precautions. But this takes away choice. I would have understood this had there been a minimal number of players to field in the league. If they had enough for 4 teams or more they should have been given the green light to play with rules in-place.
Because increasing exposure isn’t just about one’s own health. Asymptomatic people can help spread the virus to other people who didn’t make any choice. This isn’t the same as a question of sovereignty over a person’s own body.
@wildbill
The employers get the first choice. If they decide they won’t pay the bills there is no reason to ask the employees what they want to do.
That is a good point, stymeedone.
Not a lot of money. They do sell tickets and concessions.
Cancel by stupidity, not a pandemic
Proof?
DTD_ATL.
It is amazing, for players, this is less deadly than the flu. Although numbers are not easy to obtain, I believe the number of deaths of people under 45 is under 10,000. And the vast majority of those have some sort of condition that would make them susceptible.
Yet we are killing an economy and shutting down a society to protect people who more than likely can protect themselves.
It is a terrible burden to ask a 65 year old, or someone with a condition to quarantine. But that’s what we should be doing. Instead, we are bringing things to to a stand still.
For some reason, people cannot be honest about this. We know who is at risk, but for some reason we are pretending we do not.
Halo11, what is your background in science and/or public health?
I’m not sure about his expertise, but evidence show even the experts can’t control this.
I’m going to trust the cdc and be skeptical about anything politicians say considering Nashville just got caught fudging numbers.
Why is it relevant to know if someone has a medical background? According to the CDC there has been 333 total Covid related deaths of Americans between the ages of 15 and 24. There is an additional 64 total deaths of Americans under the age of 15. This does not take into account comorbidities. The seasonal flu is responsible for more child deaths in a typical flu season.
The lockdowns have become absurd and are doing more damage than the virus at this point. With increased suicides, increased overdoses and the economic destruction which will harm far more children than this virus.
No, people have to do their part individually. That’s where leadership needs to step in and deliver a consistent message. Alas, that has not happened.
Anthony, can you put a number on the “above 24” year olds that have been saved by having “lock downs”?
It’s common sense. In all past quarantines, we quarantined the sick not the healthy.
The cdc that says the avg age of death for covid patient is 80yo in a country with life expectancy of 78. The cdc that says 94% of covid deaths had comorbidities. The cdc that’s says these damn masks wont protect u from smoke inhalation, let alone a microscopic virus. It took 6 months, but they r slowly starting to tell the truth.
Cey Hey.
You can get all that information by reading the CDC website. Less than 10,000 people have COVID listed as the only cause of death.
All you have to do is actually try to look at this objectively, but people don’t.
This is a very serious disease but only for a select group of people. For everyone else, it’s the flu, and since it kills the young at a lower rate than the flu, it’s not even that.
It’s not just about player health (about which you’re being cavalier, by the way–see Eduardo Rodriguez). The pandemic is about our whole society. We shouldn’t have large groups of people travelling around and mingling unnecessarily. Where there’s a game, there’s a lot more than just players, not to mention the people they pass in travel. Even if you could guarantee all the players would have mild or zero symptoms, they can still help spread it to people who might not be so lucky. People are cancelling weddings and having zoom funerals. Player development is important to baseball. Limiting exposure is important to public health. One is more important than the other.
You think E-Rod will miss time next year? He’s was much more likely to miss time next year playing this year.
As far as a whole society, I’m in my 60s, I’m isolating. My mom and my brothers and sisters can do the same. You want to protect society, keep it running.
Society can run just fine without the older and vulnerable joining in. But for some reason, we can’t walk and chew gum at the same time. Not for some reason…. Politics.
COVID-19 can cause permanent damage to the heart, the lungs and respiratory system, the kidneys, and the liver. A young person infected with the virus probably won’t die (right away), but as there is little to no natural immunity it really has the potential to wreak havoc in the body. I can testify firsthand that organ failure isn’t pretty.
Are these the same young people stuffing their faces with Big Macs, soda and candy? Or the same young people living in California that have been breathing in some of the most polluted air in the country for years despite all of the environmental regulations? I live in Chicago where dozens of children have been murdered just in the last few months. The Covid fearmongerimg is ridiculous.
You’re testing positive for whataboutism, dude. More than one thing can be bad.
Most young people never even have symptoms.
There are now over 200k dead people in the US. America has 4% or so of the population and 25% of COVID-19 cases worldwide. Those are ghastly statistics and it’s all so unnecessary. Misinformation is killing people and destroying lives and families. Politicizing a pandemic is both stupid and evil.
Anyway, I come here to get away from all of that. So let’s talk about baseball.
And they can still spread it. Proper conduct in this world is not just about what happens to you.
Do u not read? The cdc has admitted that avg death of covid is 80, 94% had comorbidities. I dont mean to sound insensitive, but face the facts… those ppl r gonna be susceptible to die from covid, flu, pneumonia, cold, bronchitis, or just old age. The numbers ur looking at are the inflated media numbers to scare u into compliance
DrDan. And we likely have 50 million people who have caught this and don’t even know they have caught this.
I’d love to see the data on “Permanent” damage. I’m a data driven type of guy.
Well, those other things don’t stop existing and many of them are treatable/preventable. Spreading Covid is bad regardless of whether the most susceptible people are also susceptible to other things.
@halo
So your cutoff is “deadly?”. Others may not be as generous with their health.
You’re still a pandemic denier? I’m guessing you’re a climate changer denier also.
What’s your stance in the whole round/flat Earth debate?
Pandemic deniers are now in the panic mode.
I’m a pandemic denier? It’s the most deadly pandemic in 100+ years, thank God we know who it attacks.
That makes me a denier? You people are delusional. But I know why, it’s all about politics.
DTD_ATL:
Do you honestly believe anybody’s on this site to read your political garbage?
Do you even understand this is a baseball site?
seems like a waste. more quality proepcts could have allowed for more fan attention.
Right on point. A lot of AFL rosters were full of “filler types”, with an occasional upper level prospect thrown in. But this year I was anticipating a lot of the better prospects, since reps were so limited.
Too bad; it’s actually a fun league. And I never could understand why MLB network didn’t have more coverage, vrs. the 98th running of Ken Burnes’ Baseball.
This should not have been cancelled– there’s really no good reason.
I think taking public health in a pandemic more seriously than offseason minor league baseball is a good reason.
Sure, bring logic to the internet.
You have no idea what you’re talking about. Including fans, there would be less people outdoors in those stadiums than there are today
indoors at any school in the state. You’ve probably never even been to an AFL game and have no idea how they are set up. Thanks though for your expert medical opinion.
The schools in my neighborhood aren’t open, beibolista. Health reasons.
For a host of reasons, school is a lot more important to have than baseball. You know that, right?
My state has one of the lowest weekly positive test rates in the country. Same state where the AFL is played btw
@Oooof The importance of an activity is not the issue. The issue is whether the activity can take place in accordance with CDC guidelines. In both cases, the answer is yes. We should not be cancelling anything and making life less enjoyable for anyone unless safe execution is not possible. In the AFL, it would be more than possible. It would be an easy continuation of the status quo at those facilities, which are currently being used for alternate training sites.
That all makes sense. Personally, I skew toward being more maximalist about containing the spread of the virus, so my ideal standard is different than yours and would go beyond CDC guidelines. Of course, I also would have called for a national lockdown early on (I live in a place that was hit hard early, so watching so many other parts of the country not take more preemptive measures was flabbergasting), but we live in the reality where that didn’t happen. So my standards would personally be different, but your point is totally reasonable.
At least we have the instructional games this fall/winter.
The fall instructional league? How hard is it to learn how to fall?
What a cop-out decision. The plandemic is over. Time to get back to living life.
Sir, I believe you’re looking for TinFoilHatNonsenseRumors. This is a baseball site.
Absolutely!
Instead of moving players to foreign countries to develop their talent, they should have kept AFL for AA and AAA players. Add a southern league in Georgia/Florida for A/AA players with the same concept. Play between 90-120 games between both leagues. After the games are finished, hopefully this pandemic is over and regular activities continue going into spring training. Granted prospects are extended and playing while MLB action is over, but it gives these prospects some live playing action that they haven’t had in over a year. Arizona and Florida both have facilities to house 15 teams in each state easily. With a 30 MLB clubs, that is 2 clubs per team to field 48 players per team. It can be done and combining 2 clubs into one team, helps develop some of their prospects without having several “outsiders” from other organizations packed into a single club house. 24 players per MLB organization from AAA/AA (for Arizona) and the A/rookie leagues (for Florida/GA), wouldn’t be hard to do. It’s not difficult to do if MLBPA and owners got together. But Clark would buckle under pressure from the owners as he always does. Makes the MLBPA a joke anymore