Outside The Confines: Another day closer to baseball

Happy Monday, BCBers, and I hope you all had a lovely weekend.

As we approach the forthcoming season at a rapid pace (maybe), we’ve seen a number of players continue to opt out, citing personal reasons, or choosing not to openly cite reasons at all. Some players, like Mike Trout, have been called out in the media because of their concerns about playing while their wives are expecting.

Giants’ catcher Buster Posey has become one of the recent names to opt out of the season, citing the health of his newly adopted newborns. Babies Ada and Livvi were born prematurely, and Posey and his wife Kristen just finalized the adoption last week. Since the girls will need to spend time in neonatal care, Posey decided it best not to put his health and theirs on the line by continuing the season.

Meanwhile, Josh Donaldson announced he and his partner Briana Miller are expecting a daughter, but the Minnesota Twin has not opted out of the season.

There is no right or wrong response for these fathers-to-be, but they are certainly facing a lot of scrutiny for the choices they’re making.

• Speaking of Donaldson, here’s his cute gender announcement.

• Phil Jackson reflects on memories of hitting a double off of Satchel Paige, in a story by Anthony Castrovince.
• J.J. Cooper pleads for the inclusion of pro scouts in baseball’s future.
• The Blue Jays are getting desperate as hopes of playing in Toronto may not pan out, and according to Mike Harrington they are looking to Buffalo for help.
• Meanwhile Blue Jays players aren’t being shy about sharing their opinions on playing ball in a pandemic, according to Shi Davidi.
• Tim Brown shares how managers around MLB are finding a new way to lead in the face of increasingly uncertain times.
• Gotta say I love former Cubs catcher Alex Avila using one of my all-time favorite random baseball terms in this post.

• What is the most-loved ballpark of all, well, Marc Carig went through a lot of work to tell us it’s not Wrigley, and therefore wrong, though it comes quite close. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Do MLB cities really want baseball being played in the middle of a pandemic? Hannah Keyser reports on a big question.
• J.R. Gonzales has the story of a very cool piece of 1965 footage from the Astrodome.
• As it appears likely the Washington Redskins are on the verge of announcing a new team name, are the Braves and Indians on the cusp of a reckoning? Jay Jaffe thinks so.
• Sneaking a Cubs story in here, but bust out your magnifying glass and see if you can spot Anthony Rizzo.

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