Major Baseball proposes to delay start of season by one month

NEW YORK – Major Baseball has offered to start spring camp a month later due to the COVID-19 pandemic and to postpone the season’s opening day until April 28, two sources revealed to The Associated Press, Sunday.

According to the plan presented to the Players’ Association on Friday, the season would drop from 162 to 154 games.

In addition, the number of teams participating in the playoffs would be increased to 14, the designated hitter would be used in both leagues for a second straight season and Major Baseball would keep the rules of the seven-inning doubles programs and the runner in the second. cushion during extra sleeves.

All players would report to camp on March 22, rather than February 17, for pitchers, receivers and injured players, and February 22, for other players.

The opening day of the season would be postponed by 27 days, from the current date of April 1, and the campaign would end on October 10, rather than October 3. The playoffs would go on until November.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because no announcement was made. The parties have not discussed the proposal among themselves since Major League Baseball did so.

A day before the plan was presented, Major Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said he would like to know on Monday, during his regular call with the owners, if the Players’ Association was interested in delaying the start of spring camp. .

The reasoning behind this delay would be to save time for more vaccinations and to better assess the health situation.

Seven teams from each league would make the playoffs and only the team with the best record from each league would get a first-round playoff pass, in a three-of-five format.

There would be a selection day during which the leading teams could, in order of winning percentage, choose their opponent in the first knockout round. The three winning teams of these duels and the one having had a pass would advance to the series of sections, in the traditional format.

While the plan provides that players would receive their full salary if all 154 scheduled games were played, Manfred would have an expanded right to stop spring camp, regular season or playoffs under certain conditions.

Like if government restrictions prevent five or more teams from playing home games even without supporters, if government rules restrict travel to the United States, if Manfred determines, after consulting with medical experts and the Players’ Association , that there is an unreasonable safety risk to players and staff, or if the number of regular players unavailable in Majors due to COVID-19 compromises the integrity of the sport.

Each team would start with 18 scheduled days off and each team would be allowed to play a maximum of 12 double programs.

The season would be reduced to 154 games in 166 days rather than 162 games in 186 days. The World Series is expected to conclude around November 10.

The players previously rejected a proposal made by the teams on Jan. 5 to hold an extended playoffs in exchange for using the designated hitter in the National.

The last season has been reduced from 162 tag team games to 60 and the playoffs have been expanded to 16 teams. The Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series in six games against the Tampa Bay Rays on Oct. 27. Players were paid pro rata of their full salary over 162 games.

No fans were admitted during the season, in 2020. The campaign began on July 23 rather than March 26. Approximately 11,000 people attended the National Championship Series and World Series games, played on neutral ground in Arlington, Texas.

————–

Dear enthusiasts, your passion and commitment is what matters most to us and our goal is to continually improve your experience.

So, over the next few days, please note that we will be changing our tool for exchanging sports comments to something we hope you will like.

It will unfortunately be impossible to leave comments during this period for amateurs who already had a profile, but be aware that with the new tool, it will again be possible for everyone to register.

During this short period of change, we invite you to leave your comments on the page facebook.com/rds

Thank you for your great collaboration!