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Teams worry about injury risks related to shortened season

David Banks / Getty Images Sport / Getty

The 2020 Major League Baseball season remains in a state of limbo due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and while ideas are being tossed around - such as the reported proposal to play in Arizona - in an attempt to begin the campaign, there are issues that need to be resolved before Opening Day can occur.

One of the concerns for organizations is that players will be at a greater risk of suffering an injury due to a lack of proper conditioning and workouts leading up to the regular season.

"This is a real concern for us in baseball at the moment as we project a shortened preseason before competing in games every single day when our season does start; one that we are proactively navigating through at the moment to do the best we can when we restart," Cincinnati Reds senior director of health and performance Geoff Head said, according to Ian McMahan of The Athletic. "Our hope is we are hyper-diligent to be inspired by and inspire our players during this downtime to stay committed to their business, which is their body, to return to our preseason, whatever length of time, ready to compete at the highest level."

The goal is for players to stay in game shape as best as possible during the shutdown so their bodies aren't more prone to injury.

Head said they're treating this time as if it's January, and that players are expected to ramp up their workouts so they can be prepared for whatever form a delayed spring training takes.

"Muscles tend to get a lot more blood flow and can recover day to day quite a bit faster than tendons, ligaments, and bones can where blood flow is not as readily present to help those body parts regenerate," Head said.

The league remains hopeful that games will be able to resume as early as May.

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