I'd love to tell you players and owners put their greed aside and hammered out a deal that both sides could live with to get the 2020 season started. But I can't. Major League Baseball and it's thirty clubs unilaterally set a sixty game season under the terms Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association agreed upon on March 26. This according to MLB.com reporter Mark Feinsand.

According to Major League Baseball the season will start July 23 or July 24. With players required to report for training by July 1.

According to Feinsand and MLB.com the Players Association is currently reviewing a 60 game schedule. This schedule would have teams playing ten games against it's four divisional rivals and twenty games against the other leagues same division. If approved, the Cardinals and Royals would play the Cubs, Brewers, Reds, Pirates, Indians, Twins, Tigers and White Sox.

When teams take the field this year there will be some rules changes implemented for the shortened season.

  • Teams will open the season with a 30 man roster, which will be shortened to 28 and then 26 as the season progresses.
  • To be eligible for post season play a player must be on the team roster by September 15, the trade deadline will be August 31.
  • In extra innings, the player that made the final out during the team's previous at bat (or a pinch runner) will start at second base as a runner.
  • There will be a 10 day and a 45 day injured list for position players and pitchers. There will be a different injured list for those who test positive for COVID-19 with no maximum or minimum days for this list.
  • The Designated Hitter rule will be used in both leagues this season.
  • No spitting, no tobacco, no sunflower seeds. Chewing gum is ok.
  • Players will observe physical distancing, and those not expected to play may be sitting in the stands or another designated area by the team.

So it looks like we'll have baseball this year. Provided Major League Baseball and the Players Association can agree on a COVID-19 protocol that keeps players and staff healthy. And, the coronavirus doesn't run rampant during the second half of the summer, or run through the league hampering play.

I guess I'm glad baseball is back. That said I'm still bitter that billionaire owners and millionaire players couldn't get their act together for the fans and hammer out an agreement not filled with animosity. I'm going into this season a little bitter and wondering if it's worth even investing in this season and next just to have baseball be disrupted by labor problems after the 2021 season.

My advice, work it now fellas. If baseball doesn't happen in 2022, there's no telling how many of us may just decide the sport isn't worth it.

 

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