No reason to play MLB season in Arizona and/or Florida

Baseball in Arizona all season. Or in Arizona and Florida.

From June through October. Or July through November. Or October through February.

Anything to get major-league players on the fields again, right?

There has to be a better way.

And there is.

As long as the number of coronavirus cases continues to decline, MLB ought to consider a more reasonable approach that allows teams to play in their home stadiums while enduring minimal travel.

My proposal:

• Each club holds a 17-day spring training in their home city, starting approximately June 13. A series of intrasquad games could be played to get everyone into shape.

• Opening Day is Tuesday, June 30. Teams will host one-week, seven-game homestands with a doubleheader scheduled each Sunday.

So the Cubs could host the Cardinals and Brewers in Weeks 1 and 2, then play at St. Louis and Milwaukee in Weeks 3 and 4. The White Sox could start at Detroit and Cleveland, then host both teams.

Schedule makers should figure out a way where each team plays each divisional opponent twice (56 games) and two other regional opponents twice. Imagine the Cubs and White Sox playing each other 14 times. Or Yankees vs. Mets.

Perhaps the Cubs' other opponent is the Phillies, and the White Sox's is Toronto.

This gives us an 84-game season, which is not ideal. But it's enough.

• In both leagues, either abandon the DH or force pitchers to bat. It's going to be a strange season, so let's see everybody play by the same rules. Who knows? Maybe it inspires permanent change going forward.

• Expand every roster to at least 30 players.

• Get creative with the playoffs. In addition to the division winners, the next four best teams in each league qualify.

But here's the kicker: The division winners wait while those four teams play a mini NCAA-like tournament. In the NL last season that would have been Diamondbacks (85-77) at Nationals (93-69) and Mets (86-76) at Brewers (89-73). The winners advance and face each other. The winner advances, leaving four teams in each league.

• The league championship series and World Series should be 2-3-2 best-of-sevens.

Longtime Chicago Tribune reporter Paul Sullivan unveiled a similar plan in the Sunday paper. Sullivan wanted to rearrange the leagues into four divisions of eight teams and added an additional doubleheader each week. His season would consist of 112 games.

There are still issues with what to do with the minor leagues, of course, but I'm sure a similar plan of attack could be implemented.

Now, what about fans?

If - and it's a big if - the risk of contracting coronavirus has greatly decreased, then allow approximately 5,000 fans into the stadium for each game. Spread them out across the lower levels. Make them wear masks. Don't open the concession stands.

And - similar to the original FastPass system used at Disney World - have each ticket include a time stamp for when they can enter the stadium. So for a 7:05 p.m. game, perhaps a third of the fans can show up from 6-6:20, another third from 6:20-6:40 and the other third from 6:40-7.

Maybe that's unrealistic, but it's just a thought.

No matter what happens, we can assume things will look a lot different from what we're used to seeing. Let's just hope we actually get to see it in some capacity.