With Shortened MLB Season, Each Baseball Game Carries More Weight
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO/CBS News) –- Major League Baseball is set to return. The MLB Players Association (MLBPA) informed the league Tuesday that players will comply with commissioner Rob Manfred's imposed outline for a 2020 season.
Players are set report for another version of "spring" training July 1, and the league's imposed 60-game season will start either July 23 or 24, the league announced.
Players will be tested for COVID-19 upon arrival and every other day after that. They will have over three weeks to prepare for the first game.
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After that it's a 60-game spring to the finish line. They will play teams from their division and from the National League Central, so the Cubs and Brewers will be on the docket. Still to be determined is whether, at some point, fans would be allowed to attend games.
One other thing to watch: how managers use pitching staffs, given the fact each game has more meaning than a 162-game traditional schedule.
It's worth noting that at least 40 MLB players and staff members reportedly tested positive for the novel coronavirus in recent days. MLB has also reportedly ordered all spring training sites to be closed and sanitized, and personnel must test negative for COVID-19 before being allowed to return.