Re: What will next season look like
Posted: December 15 20, 1:27 pm
81 regular season games; 81 postseason games. 162.
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According to Evan Drellich of The Athletic, the MLBPA is "planning for a 162-game season and plan to show up to spring training on time."
USA Today's Bob Nightengale put out a lengthy article on Tuesday morning in which multiple anonymous club executives expressed a desire to delay the 2021 season until sometime in May. That would allow players and team personnel to be vaccinated for COVID-19 and might also create a safer environment for fans to again pack stadiums across the country. But, per Drellich's reporting, the players' union has no interest in such a plan if it means docking salaries. Here's part of a statement from Bruce Meyer, the MLBPA's senior director of collective bargaining and legal: "To be clear, and as we’ve made clear to the league, players are planning on showing up for spring training on time for a full 162-game season as set forth in the collective bargaining agreement and the league’s previously issued schedule." Anyone else getting deja vu?
Source: The Athletic
Dec 15, 2020, 6:21 PM ET
According to J.J. Cooper of Baseball America, spring training for players at Double-A and below will not begin until MLB and Triple-A players have departed from camps.
Major League Baseball apparently laid out the plan in an official memo to minor league teams on Monday. This will shrink the total number of players in team camps to allow for more social distancing on fields and in clubhouses amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. It'll also delay the start of the 2021 season for all Double-A and High-A/Low-A affiliates.
Source: Baseball America
Jan 5, 2021, 5:18 PM ET
According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred informed clubs on a conference call Monday that they "should be preparing for spring training to start on time in February and to plan on a full 162-game season being played."
Major League Baseball and its 30 ownership groups had been hoping to delay the start of the 2021 season to allow more time for players, personnel, and fans to be vaccinated, but the MLBPA has roundly rejected any new discussions about additional pay cuts that would come along with another shortened schedule. Maybe this conference call will spur a little more movement on the free agent market, as about 88 percent of available free agents remain unsigned with just over a month to go until the opening of camps in Florida and Arizona.
Source: USA Today
Jan 11, 2021, 7:48 PM ET
Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports that Major League Baseball will propose the return of seven-inning doubleheaders and extra-inning games beginning with a runner on second base in 2021 to the MLBPA.
Nightengale says that the union is expected to approve the ideas. However, the two sides "still have not determined whether there will be a universal DH or an expanded postseason with the rosters remaining at 26 players." The players are in favor of a universal DH and MLB seems to be fine with the idea, but they want the union to agree to expanded playoffs in exchange. There were 16 playoff teams in 2020 (up from 10), but Nightengale reports that MLB wants 14 in 2021, with the best record in each league receiving a first-round bye. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred plans for spring training and the regular season to start on time, so these decisions need to be made soon.
Source: USA Today
Jan 15, 2021, 10:13 AM ET