Late Monday evening, it was reported on Twitter that Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association had reached an agreement on health and safety protocols for Spring Training 2021 and the 2021 regular season

According to tweets from the New York Post‘s Joel Sherman and Yahoo Sports‘ Hannah Keyser, the league will keep the seven-inning doubleheaders and a runner on second base in extra innings rules for the 2021 season, including Spring Training, which is set to begin next week.

However, there will not be a universal designated hitter in 2021, meaning that National League pitchers will go back to hitting, at least for one more season, with the league and the union set to negotiate a new Collective Bargaining Agreement following the 2021 season … which should prove interesting, to say the least.

As most fans know, several MLB teams – including the Dodgers – have been waiting for a decision on the addition of a permanent DH in the NL to decide whether or not to sign available free agents to be used (almost) exclusively in that role; including 36-year-old third baseman Justin Turner.

One area that MLB and the MLBPA did not agree on was the length of the 2021 regular season. MLB had submitted a proposal for a 154-game regular season, which the union promptly rejected, calling instead for a full 162-game regular season. MLB did not offer a counter-proposal.

Barring any last-minute COVID-19-related changes, Spring Training will begin on Wednesday, February 17, and the 162-game regular season on Thursday, April 1.

But here again, even if all goes according to plan, a lot has to be settled in a new Collective Bargaining Agreement between the two sides to avoid a work stoppage in 2022.

Play Ball!

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UPDATE:

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Here are the complete Health and Safety protocols from MLB. Of particular note:

“Health protocols also forbid fans from accessing the back fields this spring.”

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