Column: Baseball is back!

6/25/20

Bob Zayas, 360 Sports MLB Contributor/Columnist/Cubs beat writer

SAN ANTONIO, Texas- It’s the player’s fault…it’s MLB’s fault…it’s the Players Association’s fault…well, despite the finger pointing, it appears baseball is back for 2020. Some details still need to be worked out, but overall the 2020 Season is taking shape. What we know right now is that it will be a 60-game season beginning on July 23rd or 24th. Several rule changes will include the use of the Designated Hitter in both leagues and the use of a baserunner at second base at the beginning of each half inning in extra inning play.

The official schedule has not yet been finalized, but as an example, the Chicago Cubs will be playing 10 games against each of the 4 NL Central Division teams and 4 games against each of the 5 AL Central Division.

Still very prominent in the background is the Coronavirus, also called Covid-19. Health and safety issues surrounding this pandemic are being worked out in light of the fact that CBS Sports recently reported 40 MLB players and staff have tested positive for the virus. Will this slow the opening of the season? We will have to wait and see. What we do know was that just days prior to this decision, the MLB shut down spring training facilities across the country after multiple players in the Philadelphia Phillies organization tested positive.

It seems crazy, in a way, to be talking about baseball at a time of so much civil unrest in this country. How can anyone consider baseball an essential element of society at the moment? Obviously, we all deal with issues differently but for me the mere mention of a 2020 season in these troubling times gives me hope for a better tomorrow. It brings back the mornings of reading yesterday’s box scores, talking with friends about today’s pitching duel, thinking about the Fall Classic. This country needs some good news and the very thought of a 2020 season is that news!

Sources: Yahoo Sports and CBS Sports