Report: Major League Baseball Will Return this Year

The commissioner of Major League Baseball says there will be pro baseball sometime this year, he just doesn’t know when.

On Monday, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported on the details of the negotiations inside the league to re-start the 2020 baseball season once the coronavirus threat is deemed sufficiently passed.

“While I fully anticipate that baseball will resume this season, it is very difficult to predict with any accuracy the timeline for the resumption of our season,” Manfred wrote, saying that the league is suspending employee contracts for the year to give teams some leeway to negotiate.

Talks among baseball’s movers and shakers have been kicked into high gear with decisions by many states to begin re-starting their economies early in March.

According to Passan, games may be kept centrally located in states, including Arizona, Texas, and Florida, after a shortened resumption of a few weeks of spring training. The season may entail only 80 to 100 games, but the season could also be fashioned as one long playoff, instead of a season capped by playoffs.

There are also plans to isolate the players during the shortened season, away from fans, and even away from their families to limit the possibility of contracting the virus. Players will not be the only baseball-related personnel to enter into this season-long isolation. So will broadcasters, grounds crew, umpires, sports reporters — in short, everyone involved with this season will not be allowed to exit the isolation. A regime of wide-spread testing for the virus will also be put into place.

Perhaps the thorniest issue of all is that of pay. Massive cuts in pay will likely have to be agreed upon for everyone involved if any sort of season is going to be played. The player’s union has already tried to discourage this idea, but it seems beyond doubt that it will be necessary if there is to be any baseball at all.

In a letter last week, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred insisted that everyone is working toward having a season, but something will have to give.

In the end, Passan pointed out that there have been no final plans set. But one thing seems sure; all concerned want a 2020 season to be had.

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