MLB's Unknown Season

With the advent of a Pandemic virus engulfing the world, the 2020 Major League Baseball season is entering a season that comes with numerous risks. Recent sporting events such as the PGA, NBA season, NHL season, ATP & WTA Tennis season, NASCAR, and many more have either been cancelled and/or modified over the last two months. Now, the Major League Baseball season faces the unknown. Already the season will be adjusted to reflect a late start with a mid-May/Early June launch date. That launch date is already at risk as the Coronavirus has not reached its peak and it too is the unknown.

With that said, let’s examine the possibilities of what lies ahead for the 2020 MLB season:

1) Tentatively we know now that the season is going to be delayed with a Mid-May/Early June launch.

2) What we do not know with that launch is when the players will have to show up for a 2nd phase “Spring Training”.

3) What we don't know is how long the 2nd phase “Spring Training” will last. Will it be 2 weeks? 3 weeks? 4 weeks? Or longer? After all, it is important that the players get back up to speed and conditioned to peak potential.

4) What we don’t know is which players will make MLB rosters as there were numerous players that were on the injury reserve list that weren’t going to make the original April 1 rosters.

5) What we don’t know is how the season will be positioned or laid out. Example: Will we see a traditional season format with traditional playoffs? Will we see a hybrid season that will get pushed into November? And if it does get pushed into November, what happens to cold weather teams that potentially have extreme temperatures and snow on the ground. Do you penalize those teams so that they have no home team advantage?

6) Do the playoffs get played at a warm weather/domed neutral site so that teams afforded equal chance?

7) What does this condensed version of MLB season look like for players as it relates to abbreviated stats? True, all things are equal for the season but when you look at the stats versus traditional seasons, it will look very different.

I’m sure there are many more questions that MLB Players, Management and fans need to understand. What is most important is that this horrific virus is eliminated and people around the world are made safe and can resume their normal lives. With that said, the Major League Baseball season will resume and families can enjoy America’s favorite pastime.