MLB Follows NBA's Footsteps; Starts MLB The Show Tournament

Juan Soto, Blake Snell, and Joey Gallo among 30 MLB players participating in an MLB The Show tournament.

Stories Shaping Sports and Business: April 10

Get Ready for MLB The Show

The MLB is following in the NBA’s footsteps and is now launching an MLB The Show tournament.

Much like the NBA players competing in NBA 2K, baseball players will now compete in a video game tournament.

Representatives from all 30 Major League teams will compete in a 29 game season starting today and ending with a World Series game played on May 2nd.

According to an ESPN report, the players are scheduled to stream each of their match-ups on their Twitch accounts or team channels at 9:00 pm (est).

Some of the players schedule to participate include Juan Soto from the Nationals, Eduardo Rodriguez from the Red Sox, Blake Snell from the Rays, Rangers power-hitter Joey Gallo, Yankees reliever Tommy Kahnle and Dodgers rookie Gavin Lux.

The MLB Player’s association is donating $5,000 on behalf of each team’s participant to the Boys and Girls Club. The Champion will earn an extra $25,000 donation for their local Boys and Girls Club.

MLB The Show Players League begins TONIGHT!
⚾30 MLB Players
⚾3-Inning Games
⚾Blake Snell vs. Amir Garrett Tonight at 6PM (PT)
⚾Robert Flores Hosting@Red @RaysBaseball @snellzilla4 @Amir_Garrett @RoFlo#MLBPlayersLeague #MLBTheShow #TheShow #MLBTheShow20 #TheShow20 pic.twitter.com/BGXGzq9MxE

— MLB The Show (@MLBTheShow) April 10, 2020

Olympians Helping People Stay Physically and Mentally Fit

Now that the 2020 Olympics are postponed to 2021 due to COVID-19, many Olympians are using their newly found free time to help others stay in shape both mentally and physically with a series of online and social media videos.

The courses and videos have a wide range of variety covering things from prenatal workout classes, pilates, and even reading children books.

According to the Associated Press, Paula Radcliffe is organizing a series of online classes on behalf of World Athletics, which is the governing body of track and field. Radcliffe, who held the female world record for the fastest marathon from 2003 through 2019, told the Associated Press the online classes are “just trying to make that a fun way to get everybody active together and try to restore a little but of normality.”

Friday’s Coronavirus Briefing

There are over 1.6 million cases of coronavirus worldwide. Of those cases, 467,000 are in the United States, 159,000 are in New York, making New York the place with the second-highest number of cases in the world. Spain has the third-highest, with 157,000 cases, and Italy has 143,000 cases. Germany has the fifth-highest amount of cases with 119,000. 

The death toll is creeping up to 100,000, with 97,000 deaths worldwide. Italy has over 18,000 fatalities, the U.S. has over 16,000, and Spain has nearly 16,000. New York state has over 7,800 deaths. Which places it--per data from Johns Hopkins--as the fifth-highest place by fatalities in the world. It’s right behind the U.K. with 7,900 cases. Right beneath would be New York City with over 5,100 deaths.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has been the leading expert on the coronavirus, has said an antibody test would be ready soon. Now, the antibody test is different from the actual test or a vaccine. The antibody test could show if someone has gotten the virus and beaten it and now holds the antibodies to prevent them from getting COVID-19 again.

TheStreet's Katherine Ross contributed to this report.

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