Tampa Bay Rays: NPB, KBO Baseball Activities Have Resumed

The Tampa Bay Rays closed their facilities early last week as Florida and the United States engage in their battle against the novel coronavirus, but other countries give us hope with the resumption of baseball activities.

While Tampa Bay Rays fans watch as the number of cases of the novel coronavirus in Florida continues to grow, countries like Japan and South Korea have resumed baseball activities.

As of Tuesday, March 24, Florida has exceeded 1,400 confirmed cases of COVID-19. As of right now, the start of the Major League Baseball season has likely been pushed back at least to Memorial Day.

Baseball fans in Florida and across the United States are longing for some long-balls but we feel as lost as every single one of the hitters in the video below.

On the bright side, South Korea and Japan have resumed baseball activities. Both countries appear to have things relatively under control in regard to the outbreak. Things are moving so far in the right direction that Rays players Ji-Man Choi and Yoshitomo Tsutsugo have returned to their respective native countries of South Korea and Japan.

With Rays’ facilities closed in Florida, the two will be able to get their work in and spend time with family.

Great News!

Nippon Pro Baseball in Japan and the Korea Baseball Organization began pre-season style workouts as baseball activities resume. No decisions have been made as far as scheduling a date for regular-season games to begin, but the NPB did recently host an empty-arena exhibition game.

The main point is that baseball has resumed. We know the numbers don’t look good here in Florida. We pointed out in our last article about Choi and Tsutsugo going home, Florida has 1,400 confirmed cases of COVID-19 while Japan has only reported 1,140 confirmed cases with over 100 million more people than Florida’s population.

Hopefully, Florida, the United States, and the Tampa Bay Rays will all be resuming normal activities with good news coming out of Japan and South Korea.