With the players association signing off on a July 1 reporting date and agreement on operating protocols, the 2020 MLB season is a go, with a 60-game season beginning the weekend July 23-24.
So, basically, the sport is in the same spot as it was on March 26 when MLB and MLBPA agreed on a plan to reopen the game, with MLB advancing player salaries and the union expecting prorated salaries. In the end, owners stuck with their payroll target of $1.5 billion–a number that didn’t change much, even when various numbers of games were floated–and an end date of Sept. 27, which would allow for October playoffs before an expected second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Teams will train and play at home ballparks (save the Toronto Blue Jays, at least at the beginning, as travel restrictions to Canada make that impossible) in a three-division arrangement that cuts down on travel; this scheduled has been submitted to the players. Yes, we will see a universal DH for 2020 and the “International Tie Breaker” (IBT) used in international play and first pushed by Joe Torre; no, we will not see uniform patches.
All remaining issues have been resolved and Players are reporting to training camps.
— MLBPA Communications (@MLBPA_News) June 24, 2020
One huge issue remains for the sport: What if the coronavirus roars back in a big way? We’ve already seem players and staff testing positive while working out at MLB training camps, with the Phillies announcing more positives today. In three states hosting plenty of teams–Arizona, Texas and Florida–we’re seeing both increased numbers of positives as well as. surge in positive test rates (above 10 percent in both Arizona and Florida, in the most recent results). The former can be explained by an increase in testing, but not the latter. If, after some several weeks of plays we see a higher-than-expected number of players test positive, we could see the 2020 season shut down.
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