MIAMI _ Step aside, Fubon Guardians and Rakuten Monkeys.
Thank you for your service, Hyundai Unicorns and Kiwoon Heroes.
Riveted as we have been by the Chinese and Korean brand of baseball, the Yankees and Dodgers will take it from here.
Baseball is back! Sort of.
Sports is back! Or at least this bizarre, pandemic version of it.
MLB finally has a resumption plan to belatedly join the NBA, NHL and MLS in summer restarts, and the NFL and college football still hope to play as scheduled this fall _ but with an asterisk as big as a cardboard golf check attached to every sports as 2020 plays out.
Our leagues and teams move forward, but are they stepping into a giant mess they will regret?
For most of the past three months warring baseball owners and players couldn't even agree the stitches on the ball were red until Commissioner Rob Manfred exercised his right to impose a season and the players union agreed to a coronavirus/COVID-19 health and safety manual of more than 100 pages.
Players may no longer spit.
Pitchers may not lick their fingers.
No fist bumps or high fives, please.
What is the penalty for spitting, exactly? Did the first-base umpire, out of the corner of his eye, just see expectorate leave the maw of the second baseman?
Welcome to the new abnormal.
The NBA plans to resume play in an Orlando bubble, the NHL in two hub cities and MLS also in Orlando. (The reminds me, is Mickey Mouse wearing a protective mask? Are he and Minnie social distancing?)
Baseball teams, at least, will be at their home stadiums as they report July 1 to prepare for a 60-game regular season _ the longest sport's shortest ever _ with the new opening day set for July 23 or 24.
But what about fans? Stay tuned. Depending on state and local regulations regarding the pandemic, some home stadiums will be empty, others likely will allow a limited number of fans.
Seems patently unfair to those teams with stricter state laws, and an arbitrary advantage to teams, like the Miami Marlins, in states that have dubiously opened up more than some others _ the resulting inexorable spike in coronavirus patients an apparent fair tradeoff for the goose to the economy.
Both leagues will use a designated hitter (it's about time), and extra innings will start with a runner on second base for the batting team (a fun idea). MLB should use its truncated season as a petri dish for forward-thinking ideas, such as mic'd up players.
Teams will play their four division rivals 10 times each, and five geographically near interleague opponents four times each, in a regular season set to end September 27.
The playoffs will be 10 teams, five per league, as usual.
No expanded playoffs hurts the Marlins. So does being in an NL East where all four other teams are seen as better. Still, the shorter season will mean an increased playoff shot for teams not seen as contenders, like Miami. It's common sense. You have more of a chance to fool somebody or ride a wave over 60 games than you do over 162. It's the same theory that says a No. 16 seed beating a No. 1 in one game is more likely than the underdog prevailing over a seven-game series.
The Marlins are 250-1 long shots to win the World Series, but listen to what Caesars Sportsbook senior oddsmaker Rex Beyers told ESPN. He could have been talking about Miami.
"It would seem plausible to me," he said, "that there will be money (on) some of the midrange to longer-shot teams that might field young lineups, or hotshot young pitching that the league hasn't seen much of yet."
Anyway, at least we're talking baseball again. At least for now.
Troubling questions hover during the entirety of sports' restart. The possibility of it turning into one gargantuan, regrettable mess is real.
Should it be happening at all? In the midst of a pandemic that has taken more than 120,000 American lives and is showing a worrisome uptick in cases?
(Florida on Wednesday confirmed 5,508 additional cases of COVID-19, a state record).
And should sports' return be happening in the midst of civil unrest and protest in the wake of the George Floyd killing?
Does it feel right? Playing games in all of this?
Nine Philadelphia Phillies and three Colorado Rockies have recently tested positive for coronavirus. Some NBA players already have opted out of their league's restart. Surely more in all sports will do the same.
Despite abundant caution and frequent testing, sports will not be immune from the virus threat moving forward.
Imagine late summer turning into fall. Baseball, basketball, hockey and soccer are all in their playoffs and football is kicking in _ all of it surrounded by what is feared to be a late-year recurrence of the coronavirus. As the national cry for social justice continues. And we bear down on a bitterly divisive presidential election that might be the most momentous of our lifetimes.
The new reality is quite unreal.
The new normal is abnormal, indeed.
It will be fun to see how sports plays out the rest of this year.
Fun, though? Maybe a little frightening, too.
