If you were curious about what’s going on – or not going on – at the Cubs’ facility in Mesa, Arizona right now, Gordon Wittenmyer has been on the ground since things were shut down (keeping a safe distance!). You can be reading his work for a sense of what it’s like out there at this very weird time.
His latest both gives you a sense of how some Cubs are feeling in the moment, and also a glimpse into what is happening out in Arizona for the Cubs at a time when there is no baseball:
‘Unprecedented’: Coronavirus impacts sports like Spanish flu, 9/11 attacks, 2 world wars did not https://t.co/d25Ua5vbEv via @SunTimes
— Gordon Wittenmyer (@GDubCub) March 21, 2020
The number of Cubs players out in Arizona has steadily dwindled since things were shut down a couple weeks ago, but it sounds like there are still upwards of 20 or so players periodically checking in and working out at a distance from each other (for example, the massive weight room has a maximum of 10 people allowed at a time right now).
From the sound of Wittenmyer’s story, the players who have stuck around while things are in limbo include Anthony Rizzo, Kyle Schwarber, Ian Happ, David Bote, Yu Darvish, Kyle Hendricks, and Brandon Morrow. Catching/strategy coach Mike Borzello, who lives in Arizona, is also around. It’s just so weird.
And it’s gotta be a really challenging time for players to know how to proceed – should they stay, should they go home? What kind of “shape” do they seek to maintain right now? Obviously the whole world is impacted right now, and many people will be more seriously and severely affected by the Coronavirus than baseball players, but I still have it in me to feel some empathy for their lives being thrown into total disarray (again, like a lot of us). I hope for them and for us all, there’s a little more information coming soon about what kinds of possible timelines we’re looking at for infection rates, lockdown lengths, and – God willing – a resumption of some sports.