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Play Ball? Sports Amid the Coronavirus

Readers discuss rules changes in baseball and stadiums without fans, and plead with the N.F.L. not to kick off its season.

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Overlooking Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Baseball has a plan to play a shortened 2020 season, but fans will not be in attendance, at least at first.Credit...Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press
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Credit...Ashley Landis/The Dallas Morning News, via Associated Press

To the Editor:

Re “Uncertainty as Far as the Eye Can See” (Sports, June 29):

Something is coming back on Opening Day in late July, but I hesitate to call it baseball.

While the essence of the national pastime survived two world wars and the tumultuous generations that followed, Covid-19 marks the occasion when the designated hitter is universally imposed, stealing the central vestige of the game’s purity.

Despite its being agreed on only for this gimmicky season, it may prove difficult to take away. The D.H. removes the thought and maneuvering that makes baseball so interesting and establishes the National League variation without one as the far superior game.

Still worse is starting extra innings with some alien invader on second base, an ugly effort to speed up the game. Most teams will bunt the synthetic runner and see the next batter try to lift the ball for a sacrifice fly, a debasing pattern. It would be better to leave the game a tie than to create a collection of undeserved wins.

I am happy there is a season, but given the graceless spectacle it will be, I am equally happy it is only 60 games. Let’s Go Mets!

Sean Roman Strockyj
New Hyde Park, N.Y.

To the Editor:

Major League Baseball is operating at cross-purposes.

On the one hand, officials are worried about the ever-increasing length of games (games lasted an average of 3 hours 10 minutes in 2019, the longest ever). On the other hand, they have extended the use of the designated hitter to the National League, which will only lengthen games by increasing the amount of offense. More offense means more hits and runs, which means that games take longer to play.

More offense does not translate to “better” baseball; it just translates to “more” baseball.

If Major League Baseball is serious about improving the quality of the game and making games shorter, officials should eliminate the designated hitter altogether.

Mark Abramowitz
Pittsburgh

To the Editor:

It has been almost four months since the N.B.A. suspended its season, a casualty of the coronavirus. Since then, other sports leagues have canceled or postponed their games. I look forward to when sports resume, but forgive me if I don’t get too excited about seeing games played in empty stadiums.

Yes, I watch sports to enjoy the quality of the performances, because I care about my teams and because of the uncertainty of the outcome. But a big part of what makes sports exciting is knowing that your experience is being shared with others — that others care as much as you do about what, in essence, is a consequence-free activity. So, yes, give me my sports, but also please give me my fellow fans cheering alongside me.

Henry Von Kohorn
Princeton, N.J.

To the Editor:

Re “Fauci Bursts the N.F.L.’s Bubble: Without One, the Season May Not Happen” (Sports, June 19):

Back in 1962, I was a ninth-grade quarterback on my junior high school team. Clearly, football is a game I have loved for decades, but, like Dr. Anthony Fauci, the idea of playing football this fall troubles me greatly. The coronavirus doesn’t play favorites when it comes to teams, locker rooms or stadiums.

Case in point: Numerous college and professional players have tested positive for Covid-19.

I realize that hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars are at stake if football is canceled this fall. Still, I have to ask: Which is more important, healthy sports budgets or a healthy society?

I urge everyone involved in football — from universities to N.F.L. coaches and owners — to reconsider their decisions to kick off the 2020 season this fall.

Denny Freidenrich
Laguna Beach, Calif.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 22 of the New York edition with the headline: Play Ball? Sports Amid the Coronavirus. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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