Among the major sports leagues that are currently shut down due to coronavirus, MLB might be the one that has had the most rumors and speculation regarding a restart. We’ve heard plenty of reports about what the league might do in order to start playing meaningful games by late June/early July — including the “Arizona Plan” and the three hubs plan — so it’s been pretty challenging to stay up to speed on where everything stands. If you’re a little lost, feel free to check out this comprehensive timeline of how MLB has been effected by COVID-19 and get caught up to speed.
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But, if nothing else, here’s what you gotta know this morning: MLB is reportedly getting ready to submit an official plan for returning to play this week. That proposal, which may get sent to the MLBPA for review as early as Tuesday, will reportedly suggest a regular season that starts in July and has around 80 games before an expanded postseason.
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It’s a major step towards the potential return of Major League Baseball in the coming months but there are still some key issues that need to be addressed before we get ahead of ourselves and start looking forward to games. Our baseball guy R.J. Anderson has highlighted four of those major items:
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Folks around baseball seem to be pretty confident that a season is still going to happen, and that’s encouraging, but a lot of league execs are going to need to come up with some rule changes to ensure the operation runs safely and smoothly. I’m fortunate enough to have former Marlins president David Samson as my colleague, and he was kind enough to lay out his own proposal for MLB’s return , including several adjustments to the game as we typically know it. Among those tweaks:
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Samson also lays out a plan for the regular season schedule (81 games between August 1 and Halloween) as well as an expanded postseason during the month of November. How feasible is that? Well, he’s a lot more qualified than I am, so I’ll just point you in the direction of his full proposal and you can decide for yourself.
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My guess is we’ll be hearing quite a lot about this whole process and the discussions being had in the coming days, but this could be a huge couple of weeks for baseball.
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