Fans at Globe Life Field? If Texas remains a coronavirus hot spot, it’ll be a tough sell.

Baseball is back. At least for now. And so are we. As the Rangers try to get ready for the 60-game regular season, we try to get you ready for it. Our first attempt at Evan Help Us after a couple of months of sheltering in place. We’re all just trying to get back into playing condition! Here we go:

ME: What’s been told to me over and over is that the virus, not the Rangers or MLB, will dictate attendance policy. In other words, if this remains a hot spot, it’s going to be hard to envision seeing fans in the building. And I certainly don’t think it would be wise to bring 20,000 fans in immediately. The Rangers have handled crowds of up to about 5,000 for high school graduations (but that was with no concession stands open). From my perspective, I’d try to work in increments up to 20,000 eventually. Maybe start with 10,000, if possible, in August. If virus cases are waning, maybe up that to 15,000 for September. If the team makes the postseason, hey, maybe 20,000 is doable.

The concern here is not so much player safety. Players will be at a safe distance from fans. And it wouldn’t surprise me, if fans are allowed into the park at all, to create an extra buffer of a couple of rows between the “closest” fans and the field. The issue is safety between fans and gameday employees. I’ve heard from several of you that you have been on tours and that there were a number of participants in those tours who were given a mask, urged to wear a mask and still chose not to. It’s been hard -- or impossible -- to enforce the mask regulations in smaller places with smaller “crowds.” Now you are going to ask a gameday employee, a part-time seasonal worker, to enforce the same regulations, potentially with lots of people and perhaps alcohol involved. I don’t know that I would feel comfortable asking my employees to take those steps. And if they don’t, then you may have some very uncomfortable fans who are abiding by the regulations along with greater possibility for community spread.

I hope teams can find a way to safely allow fans into the ballpark, but based on where the case numbers have been lately, it seems to me like it’s going to be difficult to pull off. The Rangers, with input from MLB, will reevaluate after Aug. 1.

ME: You know what they say about spring training numbers: Don’t evaluate based solely off them. In the even more informal atmosphere that is Summer Camp, I’d say trust “numbers” and “results” even less. Provided we get there, Rougned Odor is going to start the season as the second baseman. After that, it’s a matter of performance. Will Chris Woodward give Odor two months to work things out? No way. A month? Probably not. I’d say if Odor isn’t performing after two weeks, the manager is going to have to shift playing time, whether to Nick Solak or Danny Santana.

That answer makes it sound like the Rangers are almost waiting for him to fail. That is not the case. When hot, Odor has the ability to carry the offense. He’s done it for weeks and, on occasion, months at a time. A two-month hot streak this year makes him an MVP candidate. The Rangers are waiting for Odor to seize the job, not for him to fail. But his past has removed the benefit of the doubt. If he starts slowly, and that might mean as little as the first 10 games of the season, the club is going to have to consider alternatives.

The differences from the past: The urgency to the season and the fact that there are viable options in Santana and Solak there.

ME: There are any number of scenarios that could lead to the game shutting down, none of which I’m excited to tell you about. But we are in unprecedented and unpredictable times. I’m not a doctor or a scientist, obviously. I just see case numbers spiking around the country and reports that ICU and COVID-19 units are being taxed to close to capacity.

What happens if a team experiences an outbreak of 8-10 players? What happens if ICU need in an MLB city surges past capacity? What happens if a city or a state has to go back into shelter-in-place mode? What happens if a single player on a single team experiences catastrophic or tragic complications? I don’t know how baseball would react. I hope we don’t find out. But the league has to be prepared for those possible scenarios.

ME: At least publicly, they’ve all raved about it. I know last year there were a number of guys who played on a similar surface in Arizona and felt it was too spongy. The Rangers took note of this, committed to a more solid substructure beneath the turf (to eliminate any settling) and also got the benefit of an upgraded “performance pad” that lies between the solid substructure and the turf. The Rangers also got the benefit of Arizona’s real-time practical learning experience with care (the surface does need to be watered to keep the crushed coconut shells that make up the fill soft) and maintenance.

So far, at least, the surface has played very true in workouts with no snaking of the ball in the outfield, which was a concern, and nobody has complained of any ill effects on their legs or backs.

From an aesthetic standpoint, it looks great. From the stands, it’s really hard to tell a noticeable difference between it and a lush green grass.

ME: In my panic for face coverings way back when the shelter-in-place went into effect and the recommendation for masks came out, I ordered a handful of neck gaiters which can be pulled up over the face as a mask, including one with a University of Georgia logo. I bought some Hawaiian-designed masks. I bought some disposable surgical masks. But one I never considered buying would be one with the University of Florida logo. But, listen, in a pinch, I’d even wear it in an effort to be as safe as possible around other folks.

ME: I’ve posted a few selfies of me with various kitschy mask designs since going back to cover workouts at Globe Life Field. I’ve actually gotten some compliments on my mask fashion. I guess anything that covers up most of my face makes me look a little better. But, no, they aren’t. We can’t sew in this house. We bought them from a company called Kenny Flowers that I believe was making donations as part of their proceeds. It feels like I bought them in late March and didn’t get them until sometime in May because of backorders. And this time has been so strange that I forget some details. But that’s the mask story.

ME: I think the X factor in this season is what star players either opt out (i.e. Mike Trout) or are diagnosed with COVID-19 in-season and then are likely out for at least two weeks while trying to shed the virus. As Jon Daniels has said, the teams that can keep their players eligible to play are going to have a competitive advantage. I still think you look at the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers as the two favorites to advance to the World Series, because talent.

But I believe Oakland has a very advantageous schedule to go with its talent. I think Tampa Bay will find creative ways to attack the schedule. I believe the Chicago White Sox are young and on the rise. I think Cincinnati is in position to do some damage. The LA Angels have some real star power in their lineup if Trout plays, but not sure the pitching allows them to make a serious run. If the Rangers’ starting rotation is ready to go six innings from the start of the year, they could get off to the fast start necessary to make some noise.

ME: I don’t think they will pipe anything in. But all broadcasts will originate from Globe Life Field, even when the Rangers are on the road. I am pretty sure radio guys Eric Nadel and Matt Hicks would faint at the idea of artificial noise. So would the TV guys, but you never know what Fox Sports Southwest would dictate. I think the attempts on broadcasts will be to make them as intimate as possible and to fill the down times with extra bells and whistles. But I don’t think those bells and whistles will be in the form of, well, artificial whistles.

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