First Call: How MLB, NHL, NBA can salvage their seasons

In the wake of the coronavirus sports shutdown, sadly, the 2020 NCAA basketball tournament could not be saved.

Maybe that could’ve happened with more time to plan. But arena availability is at issue. Many venues are in a state of flux between attempts to reschedule pro sports, events, and shows — let alone hotel space and other logistical issues. Hence, the event was scratched Thursday.

Maybe discussions never even got that far. Maybe it was just deemed impossible to get around eligibility rules, enrollment problems, NBA declarations, cost and the potential for no definitive end date to the sports quarantine in sight.

So the NCAA just punted on the whole thing.

Woulda this. Coulda that. But I don’t blame those in charge.

The coronavirus crisis is a moving target with no end date. And a start date for any tournament activity would be too nebulous to set for planning purposes.

It’d be even more difficult to manipulate than getting the NBA, NHL and MLB back in play.

As for those entities, though, salvaging seasons may be possible. Here’s a look at some ideas of how to do that for “First Call” today.

Let’s keep in mind that there is no clear-cut time when pro sports may be coming back because no one knows when this disease may be contained.

If ever.

But conceivably, leagues would likely have to get back underway by mid-May to get playoffs concluded by mid-July, so as to allow for a draft, free agency and a normal NBA and NHL offseason.

And to make sure the World Series doesn’t stretch out to Thanksgiving.

MLB

Let’s start with the easiest one first.

There are 162 games on the schedule. You don’t have to play them all. Baseball’s schedule should be shorter anyway.

Given the “act of God” scenario we are facing right now, who cares how they massage things for teams to get an even number across the board?

Just make that the first priority.

Shave off the front of the schedule day by day until you get to a point where the season can start. If it can’t start because the virus is still too cumbersome, cancel it by mid-summer.

If need be, blow off interleague games or double down on division games if they are deemed more important.

Or start late and adjust the actual calendar accordingly, while keeping the schedule of games in place. That was the case in 2001 when play resumed after 9/11. The conclusion of the schedule was just moved back from Sep. 30 to Oct. 7.

At this point, the World Series is often scheduled up to Halloween anyway. What’s another week?

In 1972, no one played an even amount of games because of a strike. It impacted pennant races and income at the gates.

In 1981, a strike shut down the season from June 12 to Aug. 9. The league split its season in half.

In 1990, a strike resulted in the schedule being elongated by three days.

After the 1994 season-ending strike occurred, the 1995 season lasted 144 games.

So baseball has a precedent of no precedent. The bullseye can be a little off. And the league has time to come up with multiple contingency plans based on the sliding schedule of when America is deemed safe enough to embrace the game again.

Be smart. Be safe. But don’t overthink it to revamp the natural order of play.

In other words, I fully expect MLB to overthink it and revamp the natural order of play.

NHL

No league is more reliant on the gate than the NHL.

Every team has played between 68 and 71 games, out of 82.

So the NHL has to make a decision. Whenever the league is allowed to pick up again, does it want to prioritize guaranteed receipts in the regular season? Or does it want to preserve as many playoff games as it can later in the spring/summer?

Because it might come to that, depending on when the league may be allowed to resume.

In a perfect world, the league will be able to squeeze in its regular season and a full postseason. But in this hypothetical of best case scenarios, even that may be hyper-optimistic.

So, short of that, give the top three teams in each division an automatic pass into the playoffs.

That’s the formula right now anyway.

In the Eastern Conference, that would be the Boston Bruins, Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs in the Atlantic Division. The Washington Capitals, Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins in the Metropolitan Division.

In the Western Conference, the St. Louis Blues, Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars would be in from the Central Division. The Vegas Golden Knights, Edmonton Oilers, and Calgary Flames would get in from the Pacific Division.

Then have the two teams in wild-card positions (Carolina Hurricanes and Columbus Blue Jackets in the East, Winnipeg Jets and Nashville Predators in the West) host a best-of-three series against the 9th and 10th seeds in the conference (New York Islanders and Rangers in the East/Vancouver Canucks and Minnesota Wild in the West), akin to what they do in college hockey.

No travel. All at one venue. Use that series as a play-in sequence.

Then — if required — play that first round (or two) in a best-of-five or even best-of-three, series. Follow that up by having the conference finals and Stanley Cup Final be a best-of-seven again.

If necessary, given the late summer dates and potential conflicts with the NBA, move the venues to neutral sites with good ice and split the gates to reduce travel and balance revenue.

Are there flaws? Yes. Eleventh-place teams such as the Florida Panthers and Arizona Coyotes would feel arbitrarily left out.

None of this is perfect. Neither is having an immuno-eating virus that’s going to kill us all.

I mean, DO YOU WANT HOCKEY OR NOT!!??

Sorry. We’re all a little on edge.

NBA

Commissioner Adam Silver says his league will shutdown for at least 30 days.

As of now, most NBA teams are between 64 and 67 games played, out of 82.

If there is no time left for additional regular-season games, that’s plenty of NBA regular-season basketball. The league staged only 50 games per team in 1999 after the labor stoppage.

I lost no sleep over it. How about you?

There is a 4 1/2 game gap between eighth (Orlando Magic) and ninth (Washington Wizards) place in the Eastern Conference. There is a 3 1/2 game gap between the eighth place (Memphis Grizzlies) and the three-way tie for ninth (Portland Trail Blazers, New Orleans Pelicans, Sacramento Kings).

That’s good enough for me.

Just start the playoffs with the current standings No. 1 through No. 8 if the break is too long to play any more regular-season games.

All that matters in the NBA is the playoffs anyway.

Go ahead. Poke holes. They will all be right.

Then I’d ask if you can come up with a formula for any of the sports without holes. The answer is, you can’t.

So if you want to see your favorite sports continue without the seasons ending prematurely, accept a little imperfection.

Because the whole sports world is less than perfect right now.