West Coast fires could force MLB to rethink its recently agreed upon bubble plan

Dodger Stadium.
(Image credit: Harry How/Getty Images)

After a surprisingly (at least publicly) undramatic negotiation process during which Major League Baseball and the Players Association agreed on how to proceed with a bubble format so the 2020 postseason can be played more safely amid the coronavirus pandemic, the league faces another hurdle: the West Coast wildfires.

The blazes have drastically lowered the air quality in several West Coast cities, including Seattle, prompting the postponement of a Tuesday night game between the San Francisco and Seattle Mariners. Under the MLB's plan, there'd be no games at Seattle's SafeCo Field in the playoffs — unless the Mariners make a miraculous run in the final days of the season and somehow win the American League West — but there will be games in Los Angeles and San Diego.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.