For the second time in a week Major League Baseball effectively pushed back the start date of the 2020 season due to social distancing measures to help limit the spread of COVID-19, or coronavirus.
Last week MLB joined other sports organizations in pressing pause on their seasons, canceling spring training and officially delaying the start of the 2020 season by two weeks. Further guidelines from the Center for Disease Control, however, advised on Sunday that no more than 50 people meet anywhere for at least eight weeks, which would mean sporting events would need to be held without crowds for a much longer time frame than initially estimated by leagues.
On Monday, MLB issued a statement saying they will adhere to those guidelines, pushing the official start of baseball back to a still-unspecified timeframe after that eight weeks has passed.
Statement from Major League Baseball: pic.twitter.com/E5xPfMGOc0
— MLB (@MLB) March 16, 2020
The release says that the decision came after a call with all 30 teams, and the league is still committed to playing “as many games as possible.” Given that the World Series routinely butts up against the change in seasons in the northern cities, it’s clear at this point that the 2020 MLB season will not have its usual 162 games. We still don’t know when a season will start or when it will even be safe to gather in large crowds to watch events like baseball and other sports, but it’s good that the leagues are collectively following best practices set up by medical officials to do what’s possible to limit the impact of coronavirus.
