{"id":131736,"date":"2020-06-02T03:52:42","date_gmt":"2020-06-02T08:52:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=131736"},"modified":"2020-06-02T03:52:45","modified_gmt":"2020-06-02T08:52:45","slug":"random-thoughts-mlb-nwc-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2020\/06\/02\/random-thoughts-mlb-nwc-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Random Thoughts: MLB, NWC and more"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent sports editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week\u2019s edition of Random Thoughts centers around Major League Baseball, the minors, the NBA season, the Northwest Conference and football playoff expansion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MLB<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I could be wrong, but I\u2019m getting the sinking feeling this will be a summer without Major League Baseball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not about to take sides, to say the owners or players are right or wrong, but it seems like the two sides won\u2019t come to an agreement on a shortened season anytime soon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, some owners say they\u2019re willing to cancel the season altogether as a way to reduce losses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not good for a sport that\u2019s already struggling to maintain interest and fans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minor league baseball<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I haven\u2019t seen an official announcement yet, but I have to believe the 2020 minor league season is down the tubes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a report on the website The Athletic that it\u2019s been canceled, but the author noted there\u2019s no official word yet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The minor league season is already shorter than Major League Baseball\u2019s season and at this point, I have a hard time believing the TinCaps and others will play this year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

NBA<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I saw a plan in which the NBA would resume on July 31, with games taking place at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That seems quite late to start up again, especially given the fact the players won\u2019t have played in an actual game since early March. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As much as I like basketball, I\u2019m wondering if it\u2019s best to pull the plug and focus on starting next season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

NWC<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Leipsic Board of Education has officially accepted an invitation to join the Northwest Conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The invitation was issued last month and accepted within a day, but the school board needed to give final approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only thing left is when the Vikings will join, 2022-23 or earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stay tuned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Football playoff expansion<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recent announcement that the Ohio High School Athletic Association\u2019s football playoffs will expand in 2021 has some people wondering if the postseason should be opened to all teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I realize that teams in all other sports automatically qualify for the playoffs, but I\u2019m not so sure I like the idea of all football teams getting in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supporters of the idea point to neighboring Indiana, but it\u2019s fair to note that the Hoosier State has roughly half the number of football playing schools that Ohio has, and Indiana schools have a nine week season, compared to 10 games in Ohio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For it to work in Ohio, the regular season would have to be trimmed by a week or two, which doesn\u2019t seem very appealing. The other alternative would be to start the regular season a week or two earlier or play state semifinal and state finals games in mid-to-late December. Again, those don\u2019t seem like very appealing options. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it possible the playoff field will expand again at some point? Of course. Will everyone get in? I have a hard time seeing that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have thoughts on any of the above subjects, feel free to email me at sports@thevwindependent.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports editor This week\u2019s edition of Random Thoughts centers around Major League Baseball, the minors, the NBA season, the Northwest Conference and football playoff expansion. MLB I could be wrong, but I\u2019m getting the sinking feeling this will be a summer without Major League Baseball. I\u2019m not about to take sides, to say […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-02 18:43:33","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131736\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}