MLB Bullets has indoor activities for you

Once again, many of the articles in today’s Bullets are from The Athletic. Here’s a great deal they have just offered:

Definitely worth doing, in my view, especially now with so many parts of society shut down, it would give you great reading material.

First, let’s talk financials and baseball schedules:

• Emily Waldon talked to some minor league players about how they’re going to make it during the shutdown. One of them told her: “We are pros at scraping by.” (The Athletic subscription required)
• Garrett Broshius, a former minor-league pitcher who is now an attorney, has created a group to advocate for minor league players. Derrick Goold has the story.
• This is an NBA story, but it could have ramifications in baseball as well. Ben Golliver writes that the NBA could lose up to $1 billion from that league’s shutdown. Salaries will have to adjust as a result. (Yes, MLB doesn’t have a salary cap like the NBA, but you can bet there will be financial effects on baseball.)
• Japan’s NPB won’t start till at least April 24 and perhaps not till May, per this Nikkan Sports article. (The original is in Japanese, I’m relying on a possibly inaccurate Google Translate of it.)
• Rockies manager Bud Black says he’d be OK if doubleheaders were scheduled to make up some games after MLB resumes. (You know how I feel about DH. Single-admission? Maybe. Split DH? Nope.)

Some actual baseball news not related to the shutdown:

• In a court hearing, attorneys for the Red Sox “disagreed” with MLB’s finding that they might have cheated in 2018. Daniel Kaplan has details. (The Athletic subscription required)
• Mariano Rivera minced no words when talking about the Astros sign-stealing scandal, directly calling it “cheating” on a radio show. Mark Townsend has the story.

Things about the shutdown and what to do during it:

• Andy McCullough writes about memorable games he’s covered, not necessarily the ones you might think of. What are some of the most memorable games you’ve attended? (The Athletic subscription required)
• Joon Lee has 10 MLB players you should follow on social media during the shutdown. No Cubs are on the list, but Nationals reliever Sean Doolittle and his wife Eireann Dolan live in Chicago during the offseason and have done great charitable work in the city.
• Rockies star Nolan Arenado wrote a long note on social media thanking health care workers and others needing support in this tough time.
• The Pirates and a Pittsburgh-area food bank teamed up for a drive-up food distribution event in the city. Adam Berry has details.
• MLB.TV is offering the entire 2018 and 2019 seasons for free. All you have to do is have a MLB.com account. Phillip Swann explains how this will work.
• These are hilarious. Sean Keeley writes about “bored sports commentators” who are doing play-by-play on social media about things that are not sports. Josh Lewin, who called Cubs games in 1997, is particularly funny.
• Zach Koenig of our SB Nation Twins site Twinkie Town reviews several “Twilight Zone” episodes that had baseball or other sports as part of their plots.
• What if the MLB and NPB Tigers and Giants switched places? This Reddit thread explains. (Spoiler: It doesn’t work out too well for the Japanese teams.)
• Speaking of the Hanshin Tigers of NPB, Nick Stellini has the story of that team and “The Curse of the Colonel.” Yes, that’s KFC’s Colonel Sanders.

A look back at previous pandemics:

• Rustin Dodd has the story of a baseball writer during the 1918 flu pandemic who was beloved in his time but has long been forgotten, and also reveals Babe Ruth likely had the illness. (The Athletic subscription required)
• John Thorn’s article “Baseball in the time of cholera” discusses how the sport, then in its infancy, dealt with a deadly epidemic of that disease in the 1840s.

Lastly, some fun:

• Levi Weaver writes up what might happen if there were a “battle royale” between MLB nicknames and mascots if they were real beings. (The Athletic subscription required)
• The thing about this is... our own Josh Timmers wrote about this exact topic on this very site three years ago.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Make it so.