Baseball Is Back: MLB Players Association Agrees to Report to Training Camps July 1
The Major League Baseball Players Association has agreed to the league's request that its members report to training camps by July 1. The 2020 season will consist of 60 games and the two sides are currently finalizing the health and safety protocols. But the bottom line is that baseball is back and will be played this season.
The Major League Baseball Players Association has agreed to report to training camps by July 1 and play a 60-game season, sources tell ESPN, but deal is not finalized yet.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) June 23, 2020
One last health-and-safety hurdle to get over and Major League Baseball will be back a week from tomorrow.
This has been a long time coming. The two sides have been negotiating a decision on the season for weeks to no avail, so the players union finally gave up and asked the owners to just tell them when and where to report. That came Monday and the players agreed to it on Tuesday.
Look, this has been a mess from the jump. Major League Baseball took a terrible situation -- a global pandemic -- and made it much worse. Labor relations are all but broken and the two sides were already headed for a contentious battle on the next collective bargaining agreement in 2021. Things couldn't be worse. But at least we'll get a 2020 season.
The 60-game season will be a sprint to the finish as those 60 games will be played in 66 days and. There will be a universal designated hitter and some rule tweaks that aren't entirely clear yet. Jon Heyman says there will be a runner on second base to start extra innings:
Also this year the MLB plan is to use the Minor League rule with the runner on second to expedite extra-inning games ending, since the spring will be short, the schedule will be tight and there’s a desire to avoid 15-inning games and longer.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) June 23, 2020
This won't be MLB as we're used to but, guess what? We'll get a season. That's something.