It wouldn’t quite be a Grapefruit League opener…although the ad hoc game being planned at the Cressey Sports Performance facility in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. may have so many major leaguers in attendance you could probably charge admission.
“[Max] Scherzer said we’re going to have a March 1 game there,” Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong told Post Sports+ this past week, referring, of course, to the Mets new co-ace. “A little backyard baseball to get the blood flowing.”
Maybe this Major League Baseball labor dispute, between two sides trying to hammer out a new collective bargaining agreement amidst Rob Manfred’s lockout, will be resolved by the end of this month, rendering such a contest unnecessary. Among the other players working out at the academy owned by Cressey, the Yankees’ director of player health and performance, are pitchers Justin Verlander of the Astros and Michael Wacha of the Red Sox.
Yet DeJong, like all of his fellow players, finds himself in the odd position where he must prepare for all scenarios while not being allowed to set foot on team property or communicate with club officials (Though Cressey’s facility can be used, he is not working with the players).
