What’s New for the MLB 2020 Season
Major League Baseball is back after a one hundred twenty-four day delay and things will be very different. This isn’t just about constant testing, but rather new rules and adjustments for this coming season. With opening day ceremonies commencing, let's have a look at the confusing 2020 season we have entered.
The regular season schedule: As if this wasn't obvious, the regular one hundred sixty-two game season is gone and a shortened sixty game schedule has been implemented. This means baseball every day, with some teams having a stretch of twelve to sixteen days without a break, as they rush to finish the season by September 27th. That gives teams only six days of rest in a sixty-six day spread, so expect constant pitching changes to keep bullpens healthy. To limit travel between ballparks and across the country, each team will face their division opponents 10 times each and the opppsing leagues opponents 4 times. This results in AL West teams playing NL West, AL Cental teams playing NL Central teams, and AL East teams playing NL East teams to fill out the regular season.
New game rules and regulations: First, if a game has been played for more than five innings when a weather delay occurs, the leading team wins the game. If the teams are tied or do not reach the fifth inning before the weather delay, the game is suspended and picked up on a later date. Secondly, pitchers must now face a minimum of three batters or reach the end of an inning before being taken out of the game. This will hopefully speed up the game as you shouldn't have more than two pitchers per inning. Also, every team will adopts an American League rule to have a Designated Hitter (DH) in their lineup. Lastly, when it comes to extra innings, each team will start with a runner on 2nd base which should help cut down the length for extra innings.
The postseason expansion: Major League Baseball will take sixteen teams into the 2020 postseason with eight teams from each league in a bracket style tournament. Teams will be seeded one to eight and the first round will be a best-of-three series instead of a one game wildcard series. This helps all teams as you only have to be second best in your division to make it to the postseason because that’s where more money can be earned. As part of the expansion, players will split a $50 million player pool which is up from the $25 million the MLB initially offered.
Overall, this quicker season offers plenty of baseball and excitement over the next sixty-six days. Given everything that’s been going on in the world, it’s nice to know that there will be some kind of sporting event happening from now until the end of October.