It's now the middle of April and I don't feel like it's really spring season. That's because for the last 15 years or so I've celebrated the start of spring by watching Reds baseball while grilling hot dogs and brats outside. Since there's no Reds baseball and grocery stores have made buying brats hard I still kind of feel like its a prolonged winter.
Fortunately I found something the other day that's bringing spring time much closer to me. Sony Entertainment and MLB are teaming up to bring baseball back albeit in a virtual form. There's going to be 30 players, representing each MLB team, competing in 3 inning matchups on MLB The Show. Each player will play in 29 different games during the regular season followed with a 8 team post season. That post season will conclude with a World Series to crown the first MLB The Show Players League champion.
There's already been a few games played with Amir Garrett, from my beloved Cincinnati Reds, having found himself above .500 already. While Amir's had a great start the real story has been around Joey Gallo opening up the season 4-0. The full list of players can be found below:
Diamondbacks: Jon Duplantier
Braves: Luke Jackson
Orioles: Dwight Smith Jr.
Red Sox: Eduardo Rodriguez
Cubs: Ian Happ
White Sox: Lucas Giolito
Reds: Amir Garrett
Indians: Carlos Santana
Rockies: David Dahl
Tigers: Niko Goodrum
Astros: Lance McCullers Jr.
Royals: Brett Phillips
Angels: Ty Buttrey
Dodgers: Gavin Lux
Marlins: Ryne Stanek
Brewers: Josh Hader
Twins: Trevor May
Mets: Jeff McNeil
Yankees: Tommy Kahnle
Athletics: Jesus Luzardo
Phillies: Rhys Hoskins
Pirates: Cole Tucker
Padres: Fernando Tatis Jr.
Giants: Hunter Pence
Mariners: Carl Edwards Jr.
Cardinals: Matt Carpenter
Rays: Blake Snell
Rangers: Joey Gallo
Blue Jays: Bo Bichette
Nationals: Juan Soto
While this is certainly welcomed to watch something competitive, it's not just going to benefit the fans. The game maker, Sony Interactive, along with MLB and the MLBPA have agreed to donate $5,000 on behalf of each player to the Boys & Girls Club in that player's team location. In addition, the winner of the league will receive a $25,000 donation for the Boys & Girls Club of their club's region. It's certainly nice to see this all benefiting those who need the funds.
If you're interested in catching some of the games they will be broadcast online via a number of different channels at 9pm EST on Monday, Wednesday and Friday throughout the rest of April. You should be able to find them on the embedded Twitch feed below but in case that doesn't work try either of the following social media channels for a broadcast. If you miss the games then MLB.com is keeping statistics handy on their site.
MLB YouTube
MLB Network Twitch
