Thames optimistic about 2020 season after watching KBO
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Washington Nationals first baseman Eric Thames is optimistic about a 2020 campaign after taking in some televised baseball from his former league.
Thames recently watched the season opener of the Korean Baseball Organization, which became one of the first sports leagues to return from a pandemic-induced hiatus earlier this week. After doing so, he was hopeful Major League Baseball could follow the KBO's lead.
"I am very, very optimistic," Thames said, according to MASN's Mark Zuckerman. "I'm checking the news every morning and seeing more and more stuff is opening up gradually. That's optimistic for me. Because once we start getting more people outside ... yes, we need to keep the numbers down, as far as cases. But all of us are ready, all the players. And we know it’s going to happen eventually."
On Wednesday, a report claimed MLB was expecting to submit a return-to-play proposal to the MLBPA within a week.
While a number of details still need to be figured out, Thames said that if the KBO can make it work, so can MLB.
"At first we were all terrified that the whole year would be canceled," Thames said. "But for us to see these people on TV, they're making it work with no fans ... As long as we play, that's all that matters. America needs to see baseball. We need to entertain. People are at home watching these movies, they've seen the same movie for months. So we need to start getting back to work and start showing them some homers."
Thames spent three seasons with the NC Dinos before returning to MLB in 2017.