The Los Angeles Dodgers had high expectations going into the 2020 season after acquiring Mookie Betts and David Price, while also returning a team that won 106 games last year.
Unfortunately, they have not been able to see those expectations become a reality as Major League Baseball has been shut down due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
As time has passed and the country has begun to get the virus under control, MLB has discussed a potential return to action in the coming weeks. Safety of the players and their families should and will remain the No. 1 priority though, which has complicated some things in discussions.
It’s tough to envision MLB returning in the coming weeks with thousands of people still contracting coronavirus every day considering how contagious it is.
The latest example of that is a Farmer John plant in Vernon, which manufactures the famous Dodger Dogs sold at Dodger Stadium every year, as a ton of workers recently contracted coronavirus, via LAist.com:
Like other meatpacking facilities across the country, the Farmer John plant in Vernon — which manufactures the iconic Dodger Dog — has had an outbreak of COVID-19 cases. At least 140 people who work for the Smithfield Foods-owned plant have tested positive over the past few months, according to Freddie Agyin, Director of the Health and Environmental Control Department in the City of Vernon.
While this is obviously not ideal for Farmer John, hopefully all of the workers are able to take time off to quarantine themselves to make a full recovery from the virus.
Additionally, the company can take solace in the fact that they likely won’t have to produce millions of Dodger Dogs as they do yearly considering there won’t be any fans in attendance if games are played at Dodger Stadium this year.
MLB’s most recently reported plan has teams playing in their home stadiums as opposed to Spring Training facilities in Arizona and Florida, although things are constantly changing during this time so it remains to be seen what the final plan will be.
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