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 in theory – and others that make this baseball fan a little sick to her stomach. All this coming after months of back and forth between team owners and the players association.

With a new health and safety protocol report moving from 67 pages to 101 (according to Jared Diamond), it looks like it’s finally time for America’s Pastime to resume after it’s hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But first things first. Players will report to Spring Training 2.0 starting on July 1, with pitchers and catchers once again being the first to arrive (according to Jayson Stark). The regular season will then begin on July 23 or 24, with teams utilizing a 30-man roster. After two weeks, rosters will be trimmed to 28 and then to 26 after four weeks, also according to Stark. 

But before we get too far into that, it’s time to recap the new rules we’ll be seeing this season:

• The season will be 60 games long (over 66-days), with a postseason to follow. Initially, the plan was to expand postseason play to allow more teams to have a shot, but other factors have since caused MLB to revert back to the format used in previous years.
• Teams will play 40 games against the teams within their division and another 20 interleague games against those in the AL version of their division, according to Jon Heyman and MLB Communications.
• The Dodgers will play the usual suspects – the Giants, Padres, Diamondbacks, and Rockies – while also playing the Angels, Mariners, A’s, Rangers, and Astros. 
• Additionally, teams will implement a universal DH, despite being in the National League. They will also place a runner on second base to start each extra inning, both according to FOX Sports and other sources.

I personally, as wells others, can agree that the universal DH is annoying. We want to see pitchers bat for themselves. Sure, they usually strikeout or are called upon to drop down a sacrifice bunt. Still, there have been many instances of pitchers getting hits, even an occasional home run.

Granted, we all saw this coming, as chatter about a National League DH has increased steadily over the last year or two. Unfortunately, it may be here to stay after this season, depending on the next Collective Bargaining Agreement, which will take place following the 2021 season. 

Now to the matter of placing a runner on second base to begin extra innings. I have had strong feelings about this ever since its first utterances. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has been trying to make changes to “speed up the game” ever since taking over for former MLB commissioner Bud Selig on January 25, 2015. It was one of several experiments tested in the minor leagues last season.

As a die-hard minor league fan, partial especially to the Dodgers Advanced Single-A affiliate Rancho Cucamonga Quakes since I was two months old, this one hit close to home. It made me sick to my stomach every time I saw it utilized. I’ve seen it for several years in softball, as my sister has played for the Fresno State Bulldogs for the past four and a half seasons (redshirted in her freshman year and 2020 cut short due to COVID-19). I am still not used to it there and definitely not OK with it in professional baseball. 

Sure, sometimes Quakes games ended after 10 innings as Manfred had intended. But I also saw quite a few games go 11 and 12 innings. If I were a coach, under this new rule, I would utilize sac flys (or sac bunts) to prolong the games just to spite Manfred. But enough about my personal vendetta. As noted, it does have the potential to work but often does not; but I guess it’s better than a tie, right?

It was also reported that there will be no restrictions on utilizing position players as pitchers, and the three-batter minimum for pitchers will remain. On a different note, pitchers will be allowed a wet rag in their pocket to use instead of licking their fingers between pitches. I won’t lie, I’m looking forward to that first one, but am a little concerned about the last one, as is former Dodger Brett Anderson:

It is second nature for pitchers to lick their fingers between pitches to improve their grip on the ball. This is not something they consciously think about, it’s just something that they do – and they all do it. The obvious issue with using a rag is that it could be used to conceal a foreign substance like Vaseline. Granted, I don’t know exactly how this procedure is going to work, and this is pure speculation on my part. 

The last piece of the puzzle that allowed this monumental occasion to occur is, of course, trying to work around the COVID-19 pandemic facing our country and the world. Over the last few days and even up to the moment Manfred released news of the agreement with the players union, it was reported that players on multiple teams have tested positive for COIVD-19. Closer to home, it was reported that Colorado Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon and other Rockies players had tested positive for the coronavirus after workouts at Coors Field, as reported by Kyle Newman of the Denver Post:

Some teams may be forced to relocate from areas where there have been recent significant spikes in COVID-19 cases, such as Florida, Texas, and Arizona, as noted by Hannah Keyser.

Because there will be no fans in attendance at MLB games in 2020, teams in high-risk areas could use minor league ballparks or other MLB parks, or perhaps their Spring Training facilities, although this is an unlikely option given that all of those facilities are located in Arizona and Florida; the Spring Training homes of the Cactus and Grapefruit leagues respectively. 

Speaking of minor league facilities, the Texas Rangers have announced that they will be using the home ballpark of their Triple-A affiliate Nashville Sounds and the St. Louis Cardinals their Double-A affiliate Springfield Cardinals as a “base” for their players. Nashville‘s First Horizon Park will also (potentially) be used to host games for free agents hoping to land MLB jobs.

Springfield, on the other hand, will serve as a taxi squad base for Cardinals reserve players. MLB has requested teams to find locations for their taxi squads within 100 miles of their home field, should anyone need to be called up as a replacement for injured (or infected) players.

Might LoanMart Field in Rancho Cucamonga be utilized as the Dodgers taxi squad base, being that it is a mere 48 miles from Dodger Stadium? Hopefully, we’ll hear more information about the Dodgers taxi squads and their locations soon. 

Lastly, and this is going to be a tough one, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that spitting of any kind – saliva, sunflower seeds, tobacco, etc., will be strictly prohibited at all club facilities (chewing gum will be permitted). Passan also reported that a COIVD-19 injury list will be established for confirmed and/or symptomatic cases without a return timetable restrictions. The regular 10-day DL for actual injuries will remain in effect.

There will undoubtedly be additional news, updates and tweaks to the current plan as we near the proposed July 23-24 Opening Day. But for now, this is a general recap of what to expect, with a splash of opinion tossed in.

Welcome Back Baseball!

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