Major League Baseball has not held a regular-season game since September 2019. That long stretch will likely come to an end in just over a month after the MLB Players Association reportedly informed the league on Tuesday evening that they’ve agreed to the league’s 60-game schedule.
MLB and the league's players association have reportedly agreed on both an implemented 60-game season as well as health and safety protocols, clearing the way for the game's return in July. #baseball #MLB #boston #boston25 #RedSox
— Boston 25 News (@boston25) June 24, 2020
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MLB announced Monday night that they’d be implementing that schedule, forcing the Players Association to decide if they would report to the league’s second round of Spring Training, which is now reportedly slated to begin July 1.
USA Today’s Bob Nightengale was first to break the story, which has since been reported by Jim Bowden of CBS Sports and the Athletic, as well as ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
#MLB and the #MLBPA continue to exchange ideas with the health and safety protocols. There are no major snags. The union already informed MLB that it plans to play, and be in spring training camps by July 1 with a 60-game season starting July 24-26 weekend.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) June 23, 2020
The Major League Baseball Players Association has agreed to report to training camps by July 1 and play a 60-game season, sources tell ESPN, but deal is not finalized yet.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) June 23, 2020
One last health-and-safety hurdle to get over and Major League Baseball will be back a week from tomorrow.
#MLBPA has informed #MLB players will report on July 1st for July 24 Opening Day. 60 Game season in 66 days. They are both still working on finalizing safety and health protocols which quite frankly will be something both parties will continue to improve on going forward.
— Jim Bowden (@JimBowdenGM) June 23, 2020
PREVIOUS: Major League Baseball will play 60-game season
The announcement comes after multiple return-to-play proposals were rejected by both the owners and the Players Association over the course of the last four weeks.
The Players Association and the league did still need to come to an agreement regarding health and safety protocols before the deal could be made official; however, those standards have reportedly been agreed upon as of Tuesday night.
Nightengale was also the first to report that final detail, shortly followed by ESPN’s Karl Ravech and MLB Network’s Jon Heyman.
MLB agrees to union’s proposal in health/safety protocol that all players who cohabitate with a high-risk individual, including a pregnant spouse, has the right to opt out and be paid with service time. Previously, it was only high-risk players who could opt out and still be paid
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) June 24, 2020
The deal is done between MLbPa and Mlb on health and safety protocols. Game on
— Karl Ravech (@karlravechespn) June 24, 2020
Play ball! Hearing owners and players have worked it all out, and there will be baseball.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) June 24, 2020
While not officially announced by MLB yet, the 60-game season is reportedly slated to begin with Opening Day on July 24. The MLBPA did tweet out that they were ready to return to Spring Training.
All remaining issues have been resolved and Players are reporting to training camps.
— MLBPA Communications (@MLBPA_News) June 24, 2020
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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