The Major League Baseball season is officially still postponed, not canceled, and there still may end up being a season that's played in one or two locales so the teams don't have to do any traveling. But a couple of fans in New York are filing what they hope will be a class-action suit to get ticket refunds during these economically uncertain times.
The two fans are Matthew Ajzenman, who says he bought a partial season plan for Mets games at a cost of $1730; and Susan Terry-Bazer, who claims she purchased six tickets for a May 9 game at Yankee Stadium against the Boston Red Sox for a total of $926. Defendants named in the suit include 30 different teams, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, Ticketmaster, StubHub, and others, as the Associated Press reports. The lawsuit, which still needs to be certified as a class action, was filed on Monday.
"The defendants continue to retain enormous profits from tickets sold for the 2020 MLB season at the expense of fans' financial hardship," the lawsuits read. And the plaintiffs are seeking "full restitution" for the tickets they've bought.
We're almost a month past what would have been opening day for the baseball season on March 26, and currently under consideration is a late start to the season that would either see all games played in Arizona, or teams divided between the spring training stadiums typically used in both Florida and Arizona. The games would be played to empty stands, but televised, and there's one scenario in which the Oakland A's and SF Giants would be in the same league.
Per the AP, the MLB is saying "it is awaiting government and medical direction" about the potential start of season, and teams are likely to be offering credits to fans for the 2021 season if they've already purchased tickets. If the season were fully cancelled, that would trigger a standard refund policy.
Would baseball really be baseball with no one there to watch it live? "America's pastime" has long been criticized for its slow pace and endless games — with no fans in the stand wouldn't it all feel that much more sleepy?
Stay tuned.
Meanwhile, a Players League that already launched on the video game MLB The Show, in which actual Major League players like Hunter Pence are controlling virtual teams, is going to be broadcast on television starting tonight. Previously only available on ESPN, ESPN2, FS1 and MLB Network starting Thursday.
Pence, who's representing the Giants in the online game, says he's "losing sleep" over the pressure. As he tells NBC Sports, "I think that the player's league has been one of the coolest things I've been a part of, because I'm getting to have all these connections with players from all the other teams, getting to know them and, MLB The Show looks so realistic that it kind of gives you a little bit of that fix that we're missing with baseball."
He adds, "I feel like the whole Giants organization is on me playing this video game good, and sorry my right thumb is not the same as my right arm."
Related: MLB Mulls Bringing Back Baseball, And What That Might Look Like
Photo: Jose Morales