Finally, after months of negotiations, the MLB has a plan to return to the field. The owners and players were finally able to reach a compromise and end the historic labor battle between the two sides.
Now that there is an agreement, there’s only one common enemy; the coronavirus. With how intense the labor talks were, it was easy to forget the fact that the season was on halt due to the coronavirus.
Right now, the plan is to play a 60 game season ending at the end of September with the postseason in October. Teams will play all regular season games regionally to reduce travel and potential exposure.
The league is doing all they can to limit positive tests, but unfortunately, positives are just going to happen. There will be a special injured list in 2020 for coronavirus positive players.
Over the next week, players will begin to trickle back into home cities to begin a three week training camp. Once reported to camp, players will begin to get tested almost daily for coronavirus. As players and staff report to camp, don’t panic if and when there are a lot of positive tests.
Players and staff are coming from all over, and many are coming from areas with increasing numbers. So, as long as they can trace their contacts and isolate, then everything should be good. But, we are likely to see the most positive tests in the beginning before players go into more of a “bubble” as the season goes on.
Although there may be a lot of positive tests over the next week, it shouldn’t be a huge cause for concern — yet. If we continue to progress through camp and into the season with more and more positive tests, then things might need to change.