MLB’s Opening Day has been pushed back multiple times, and currently, there is no set date for when the regular season will begin due to the coronavirus pandemic.
That being said, the league made an agreement with players that the season’s beginning would entirely depend on recommendations set forth by the Centers for Disease Control.
And while players have been open about wanting to play the entirety of a 162-game season, both sides hope to play at least 100. A shortened season could be imminent.
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Dave Stewart, a former A’s pitcher and now an analyst at NBC Sports California, recently spoke to Brodie Brazil about what could happen if the season were to have less than what we’re used to. Stewart compared it to the 1981 strike in certain ways.
“In 1981, we went on strike, and we lost 60 games, so we played 102 games that year,” Stewart said. “It actually worked out pretty well. We played the seasons in halves, it was a round-robin playoff, it worked well.”
“Once you start looking at 100 [games] -- in that range, I think the season puts itself in jeopardy,” he added.
The monetary losses were astronomical during the ‘81 strike, but a compromise was reached at the end of July that year.
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The season was split into two (before, and after the strike) which worked out for certain teams, but also forced promising teams to miss out on playoff hopes.
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MLB has laid many ideas out on the table for what could happen should the season begin in 2020. Seven-inning double-headers have been discussed in order for the season to reach as close to that 162 number as possible with mid-May being the best-case scenario to start.
Recently, MLB and the MLB Players Association agreed the 2020 season could not begin while there are still travel bans, mass gatherings bans that limit the ability to play in front of fans, and until medical experts determine the games would not pose a risk to the health of teams and fans.