I love baseball. It has been a big part of my life for almost six decades.

Growing up in St. Louis, you learn the words Take Me Out To The Ballgame at a young age. You grow up with your own family and, at the same time, a second one called the Cardinal Nation.

As much as I and millions of others would love to see baseball play in 2020, the best course of action would be for Major League Baseball to forgo the current season.

This goes beyond baseball executives wondering how to create a schedule with a shorter season. It is more about preventing the spread of the COVID-19 virus and the safety concerns of everyone involved, both on and off the field.

First consider the players. There will be 26 of them on each team this year. How do they practice social distancing sitting in a dugout and in the clubhouse? How do they avoid community contact that could lead to transmission of the virus?

On the field, will players still emit internal fluids from spitting gum and sunflower seeds? How do they orchestrate stealing bases and avoid collisions with members of the opposing team, or should they?

Travel should be a major consideration. Should teams get on a plane every three or four days? Impossible to maintain social distancing on a plane with so many on board. Perhaps management should employ a fleet of aircraft for security purposes.

Coaches and managers appear to be most at risk. Most are between 40, 50 and 60 years old. Do they need to wear protective masks and gloves in the dugout? How do they protect themselves from being around a large group of young people, all it takes is for one to unknowingly be the carrier of the disease?

The health of coaches and other staff must be taken into account. Those who need to care for players on a day-to-day basis for bumps, bruises and illnesses may need all kinds of protective clothing to do their job.

Should a manager, coach or player get the virus? Does MLB quarantine that team for weeks? How will that affect the pennant races and the rest of the schedule? If that person’s situation becomes critical or worse, will MLB shut everything down?

Also, all safety-conscious fans will stay away. MLB will have to deal with empty ballparks. The sound of the ball hitting the bat will echo through the porous 50,000-seat stadiums. The overall quality of the game experience will be compromised.

Smarter heads than this are currently working on these problems. However, until a vaccine is found and administered, logic would say that as much as we would all love to see our teams take the field, MLB would be better off moving on this season.

In the words of the musical Damn Yankees, “until next year.”