You have to give Major League Baseball credit.

At a time when other professional sports leagues have been seemingly reluctant to get creative in exploring ways to restart their brands, MLB has gone completely outside of the box for a short-term plan that could give it at least a partial season … all the way to Arizona.

In fact, the idea is so radical that it could have the Pittsburgh Pirates becoming divisional rivals with the New York Yankees in 2020. The Boston Red Sox could be aligned with the Atlanta Braves. And so on…

It’s all part of what ESPN’s Jeff Passan calls MLB’s ‘Arizona Plan.’ The idea, which was first reported on by Passan last week and has gotten some traction amongst players and managers, would send all 30 organizations to the Cactus State for at least a couple of months.

There, the MLB has theorized a three-week training period, followed by games at the Diamondbacks’ home, Chase Field, as well as at the 10 spring training sites in Arizona.

Under normal circumstances, it sounds easy enough with the entire league in one state. But, of course, we are living in a world that’s anything but normal.

To pull this off, MLB would have to get the complete buy-in from every play, coach, trainer, equipment manager and umpire. There would have to be widespread testing. Players would have to leave their families for an undetermined amount of time. The go-ahead by federal, state and local governments as well as health officials would have to be given.

One or two holdouts per team, and the idea goes up in smoke. After all, would the Pirates organization agree to such a plan if Josh Bell sat it out because he had health concerns with playing in Arizona? Or if the Yankees’ Aaron Judge and Gerrit Cole decided that it was safer to be with their families than travel down to be with teammates thousands of miles away?

The good news, for sports fans who are so ready for something to look forward to, is that both the MLB and the players’ union have developed some ideas to try and sell a potentially dangerous plan to those involved.

They include:

– No mound visits

– An electronic strike zone to distance umpires from the catcher and batter

– Players sitting in the stands, instead of the dugout, to maintain social distancing

Sound crazy? Well, it has to be.

Those three measures could go a long way towards shaping the optimism for everyone involved that this is a safe alternative to a normal season. Not only does Rob Manfred — MLB’s beleaguered commissioner — have to sell to the stars of the league, he’s got to make it make sense to managers and umpires, most of whom are 50 years of age and older.

Speaking of Manfred, who has become infamous due to his handling of the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scandal, he has seemingly taken all the right steps to help rehabilitate his image over the last few weeks.

It was announced on Tuesday that Manfred and other senior MLB employees would be taking a substantial pay cut through May. And while nobody should feel sorry for a millionaire losing a couple of bucks during this health crisis, it’s still a noble gesture.

As is his attempted plan to restart baseball — even if we’re frank about the biggest reason that the league is so anxious about getting back onto the field: money.

MLB executives must be salivating at the idea that they would be the only live sporting event taking place for at least the first part of the venture to Arizona. No NHL or NBA playoffs to compete with. No Olympics and no worries of brushing up against minor sports leagues such as the MLS or the now-defunct XFL.

Instead, MLB could command almost the entire sports landscape. ESPN would be filled with games and highlights, social media would be a goldmine for the league, and most importantly: advertisers would be flocking for those between-inning placements on what would be somewhat of a record-setting audience.

Even the lower-tier games like a Miami Marlins or a Seattle Mariners contest would presumably pull better ratings for sports networks than the reruns and documentaries that have been the only source of sports over the last month.

The plan is by no means perfect, and with so many kinks and potential roadblocks, it may never fully get off the ground. But at a time when other sports leagues such as the NBA and NHL have offered only vague ‘we’ll play in empty stadium’ suggestions to getting play started again, MLB’s proposal should be commended.

And if it doesn’t work out, at least it gave us hope — even if for only a couple of days — that the return of live sports will be back sooner rather than later.

(Anthony Sambrotto, Bradford Era sports editor, can be reached at asambrotto@bradfordera.com)