Coronavirus suspends NBA season

There’s not a ton to say about this.

Jazz center Rudy Gobert, two days after playing in an NBA game and making a “statement” about coronavirus fears by touching every reporter’s tape recorder after a press meeting, and mere minutes from playing in Utah’s game tonight, was later hospitalized.

The decision was made to postpone the Jazz at Memphis Grizzlies game tonight, and when Gobert later tested positive for coronavirus, the NBA took the extraordinary measure of suspending the season.

What does this mean for baseball, and the White Sox season? With Governor J.B. Pritzker on the verge of shutting down any large-group fan event in the state of Illinois, it seemed as if the best-case scenario had been baseball in front of no fans, or possibly the regular season starting in Arizona.

Now, with players beginning to test positive for the virus and the illness spreading to nearly every state in the union, it is looking more and more likely that major league baseball will follow suit and postpone the beginning of the season.

Even if MLB decides to press on with spring training, with or without fans, it seems certain that out of concern for their own safety and/or that of their loved ones at home, players may begin to opt out of games and perhaps even return home as coronavirus concerns reach a fever pitch.

Given that this public health issue will unlikely abate in mere days or even weeks, it also seems certain that if the 2020 season is played, it will be truncated to 144 games, or fewer.

We’ll keep you posted on what effect the dominant story of all our lives right now will have on the Chicago White Sox season, as updates become available.