Dodgers' Kike Hernandez Talks Potentially Playing MLB Games in Isolation

Los Angeles Dodgers utility infielder and outfielder Kike Hernandez isn't worried about the possibility of being isolated away from fans and his family if the MLB season resumes at some point this year.

If such measures have to be taken, he views it as a small sacrifice compared to what other people around the world have endured during the COVID-19 pandemic, as he told Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times:

"I think that's going to be a little harder on my wife just sitting here at the house by herself. The way I think about it is people got a lot worse and they don't get millions of dollars to do it.

"At the end of the day, we were put in a weird situation, weird circumstance, but we would get people something to look forward to. They're stuck at home all day. Might as well watch live baseball and cheer from home. And hopefully they cheer so loud we can hear them at the stadium."

In early April, the Associated Press (h/t USA Today) reported that Major League Baseball and the players association were discussing a plan for all 30 teams to be based out of Phoenix this season, play without fans in attendance and have the players largely be isolated off the field as well.

Agent Scott Boras spoke about how such a format would work:

"You're going to be largely separated from your families and you're going to have to function in a very contained way. It's not a normal life, this idea. You're going to have an identified group of people. You're going to have a constantly tested group of people. And you're going to have a very limited access of those people to the outside world so that you can assure a very uncontaminated league, if you will, to produce a product that is inspirational to our country."

A number of prominent players have expressed doubt that such an idea would ever happen, and have reservations about being away from their families:

"In terms of Arizona, what's a deal-breaker for players is that they say you have to be in isolation, without your family," Houston Astros shortstop Carlos Correa told ESPN's Marly Rivera. "That's something that I think will never happen. No player wants to be without his family. There are many players that have pregnant wives, that have small children. Family is the most important thing to many of us, if not all of us."

They aren't alone in those reservations:

Hernandez's teammate, Ross Stripling, is hoping to see baseball back in July once the league has identified a safe format.

"I'm still extremely optimistic," he said, per Michael J. Duarte of NBC Los Angeles. "For me, I think Opening Day on the Fourth of July sounds as American as you can get. How cool would it be? Opening Day of baseball on the Fourth of July. That's what my gut has been saying the whole time."

It remains a possibility that the season will be canceled altogether if a viable solution fails to present itself. At the very least, it seems incredibly unlikely there will be fans in attendance for games anytime soon due to fears of another outbreak of the coronavirus.

It's a unique situation for the league and its players to resolve. But it appears the one thing all parties agree on is brainstorming a way to have some sort of a season this year.