Cody Glenn-USA TODAY Sports
The “ifs” could fill Oracle Park, but so could the Giants if baseball is played this season.
San Francisco is opening up June 15 for sports, Mayor London Breed announced Thursday, making the Giants’ home an option if Major League Baseball and the Players Association come to an agreement that pacifies both sides.
Professional sports could be played without fans in attendance, and the Giants could use their home as the site of spring (summer?) training 2.0. Teams could practice before June 15 with an approved plan, which could keep MLB’s soft target of a June 10 camp-opening as a possibility. The Giants are not sure whether they would hold camp at Oracle Park or at Scottsdale Stadium, which has more fields and room to move around, yet also has an unrelenting Arizona sun in mid-to-late June.
Regardless, Major League Baseball hitting that June 10 target is a long shot considering how far apart the two sides are, with owners suggesting a sliding scale of cuts that affect the highest-earning players the most, and the union insisting a deal that prorated the contracts depending on games played already had been reached in March.
The two sides have hoped to have a pact in place to begin June, which would allow a June 10 open to camps and early July start to a shortened season, with all the theatrics and symbolism of baseball being played on the Fourth of July.
It seems awfully ambitious, but if, and whenever, a deal is agreed upon, the Giants are being welcomed at home.
