How Padres Could Benefit from a Season in Arizona

As Major League Baseball contemplates playing it’s entire 2020 regular season in Arizona, we look at how that could benefit the San Diego Padres.

We haven’t had a ton of news on when the San Diego Padres could be playing baseball again. But on Tuesday we finally started to get some substantive rumblings.

Jeff Passan of ESPN reported that MLB was considering starting the season as early as May and playing all of its games in a quarantined bubble in Arizona.

MLB later poo-pooed on the notion that this was close to happening.

But still, I tend to believe Passan more than MLB itself. And at the very least, we know plans are in motion to try and get baseball games back as soon as possible, and that’s great news.

I honestly think the proposed plan that Passan talks about is the best solution I’ve heard thus far. It would allow baseball to return sooner than most expect, and as a result would allow us to get as many games in as possible this season.

From a fan’s perspective, that sounds wonderful.

But as many have pointed out following that article, there are still a lot of hurdles remaining before this plan could be put in place.

However, it’s the biggest news we’ve had since then shutdown on when action might return, and I think (optimistically) it’s very possible.

And I also think it could be a benefit for the Padres, and really any other team out West that is used to playing in hot conditions throughout the Summer and whose spring training home resides in Arizona.

Plus, if they do allow families to come inside the “bubble” then it wouldn’t be a huge move for a lot of families already living in the San Diego area.

One would have to think the Padres would feel pretty comfortable playing their games in Arizona based on their familiarity with the region, ballparks, etc.

There is obviously still a lot that needs to be worked out before Major League Baseball can resume. But Tuesday brought us some encouraging news that baseball could be back much sooner than expected.

Let’s hope people continue to be safe as we go through this virus, and let’s hope we can get the game we love back as soon as possible.