It’s one of those things that was in the back of all of our minds the moment MLB commissioner Rob Manfred imposed his 60-game 2020 schedule on the MLB Players Association: Who would be the first player to opt-out of the COVID-19-shortened season over safety concerns for themselves or their families? And while it took […]

By every indication, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has no intention whatsoever of further postponing or even canceling the 2020 MLB season, this despite soaring increases in newly reported COVID-19 cases and related deaths. In fact, on Sunday afternoon, his mandated deadline for teams to announce their 60-Player Pools took place, with all but five of […]

If you thought that Major League Baseball roster rules were complicated prior to the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Here are a few of the special rules for the 60-game regular season: Each team may establish up to a 60-player pool, with the initial list submitted to the MLB offices no later […]

When the Dodgers placed outfielder Andrew Toles on the Restricted List for failing to report for Spring Training in 2019 for “personal matters,” and again after he finally showed up for Extended Spring Training but abruptly left for “a personal matter,” you didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to read between the lines. This […]

It was a sign of the times – a press conference with Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman via Zoom. …and the news was not all good; yet another sign of the times. “We have had some people in the organization test positive [for COVID-19], none that has resulted […]

There isn’t a baseball fan on the planet who wasn’t ecstatic when MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announced on Tuesday that the 2020 season would resume on July 24, albeit under an abbreviated 60-game schedule. But aside from the money and length-of-season issues that caused negotiations between MLB and the MLB Players Association to stall repeatedly, […]

The wait is finally over! The BIG news we’ve all been waiting for finally came! We have news of an agreement between Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association for the 2020 Major League Baseball season! Lots of news from many different sources is coming in; some news that is good – or good […]

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announced on Tuesday afternoon that Major League Baseball anticipates beginning its 2020 regular season on July 23rd or July 24th.  The announcement came following confirmation that the MLB Players Association had accepted the health and safety protocols that will guide MLB’s return to play and that players will be able to report […]

  *  *  *   Eight days have passed since the article “Play Ball” appeared here on ThinkBlueLA.com. At the time, it seemed a fait accompli that the 2020 MLB season would be a schedule unilaterally imposed by commissioner Rob Manfred. On-again, off-again negotiating continued during those eight days, at times giving false hope that an […]