*Photo from ABC*
Baseball is back, and due to the COVID-19 Pandemic worldwide, it will look a lot different in 2020. MLB released a detailed 101 page safety report that details exactly what will be different this season. It's tough to condense all that into a single post, so here's the information that is most important.
When it comes to travel, teams will only play in their own region. For example, teams on the east coast will not leave the eastern time zone to play games. In terms of how exactly teams will travel, public transportation is banned, players can drive themselves and take rideshare companies like Lyft and Uber to stadiums, so long as they are following the correct safety procedures. Teams must also schedule at least 6 different bus trips to the stadium from the hotel so the players can adhere to social distancing. Windows on the bus will be opened as much as possible to allow fresh ventilation. Players have also been instructed not to leave the hotel for any reason other than games.
During games, hitters must have their own pine tar rags and bat weights for their bats, and they can't share. Pitchers will also bring their own rosin bags with them to the mound, and back to the dugout when the inning ends. Also, players usually bring a teammate who was on the bases his glove and hat when the inning ends. That won't happen anymore, the player will have to go get them himself. Fist bumps, handshakes, high fives, and hugs are asked to be avoided at all costs.
The playing rules are also different. The universal DH has been adopted for this season, and due to increased movement to adopt it permanently recently, we may have seen the last of pitchers batting. If a game is forced to go to extra innings, each inning will start with a runner on second base in order to decrease game times, because teams are playing 60 games in 66 days. Any game stopped by weather before reaching the 5 inning mark will be continued at a later date, rather than starting over at a later date.
In terms of roster size, teams can have a max of 60 players to choose from for any given game. The names for the 60 man rosters are due by Sunday and will be locked for the duration of the season. Any players not on their team's 40 man roster will train at an alternative site for spring training, away from the 40 man roster. For the first couple weeks of the season, teams will have a 30 man active roster. After that, it falls to 28, and two weeks later, it drops to 26, where it will remain for the rest of the season.
That's all the important information regarding the season, and it's almost time to play ball. 6 days until players report for spring training 2.0.
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