Imagining a June-to-October baseball season

For the sake of killing five minutes...

Let's say the virus runs its course by late May, allowing MLB to launch the 2020 season around June 15. 

The country will rejoice over a return to normalcy - to the great diversion of sports - but health officials might still be leery of massive crowds, and a grieving, still-recovering nation might not be ready, anyway.  

Thus, a revamped 81-game season might have to take place in empty stadiums, a made-for-TV league. And some cities might simply have to cancel. 

By June, New York and Seattle should have passed through the snake - with case loads declining and under control - but who knows where St. Louis or Kansas City will be? Thus, some franchises might call off the year. MLB might field a 12-or 16 team league. Disappointing, but better than nothing.

If so, players from canceled franchises might sign short term deals with the remaining teams. (This would require massive negotiations between owners and the players union, but both sides would have an interest in striking a deal.) The condensed league could feature veritable all-star teams, though this would undermine old-time rivalries. How would Yankee fans feel if, say, the Redsocks unveiled their new short-term second-baseman: Didi Gregorius? A bit manipulated, maybe? (Well, we could sign Jose Altuve, right?)

The shortened, made-for-TV league might have to take place in far-flung minor league cities, such as Boise or Batavia. Hopefully, some small metropolitan centers will escape the ravages of the virus. For network purposes, a stadium in Montana would be no different from one in Houston. 

It's hard to imagine the playoff structure. It might more resemble the Olympics than a regular post-season. If it rolls into November, it would have to take place in southern cities, on neutral fields - and that would be a shame. 

By October, maybe we will have a vaccine, a 15-minute test (maybe we already do) and a prescription drug that turns the virus into a flu. If so, a world series could be played in actual home cities, like Boston or New York. 

Wouldn't it be the greatest feeling, to survive this abyss, and have an old-fashioned, barn-burner of a world series? It's up to you, scientists. Baseball fever, save it?