The start to the 2020 MLB regular season is still on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic and many people may be wondering if baseball will be played at all in 2020. However, according to Jeff Passan of ESPN, baseball will indeed be played in 2020, and it’s just the details of “when, where and how” that remain unknown right now.

Passan mentions the potential steps for the beginning of the 2020 MLB season could involve having a plan of return in place by May and having an agreement with the players in place by late-May or early-June. From there the players will likely have a week to arrive to their new spring training locations, where they will have three weeks of preparation time before the regular season commences.

That would set the teams up for a start to the regular season in July. The goal would still be to play a season of 80 to 100 games from July to October. That would push the postseason to November, likely meaning it would have to be held at neutral, warm-weather locations.

Passan admits that this plan is not set in stone or anywhere near it, but wrote that “from the league to the players to the owners to TV executives, this, or some derivation of it, registers as the most realistic option at this point.”

As for the whereabouts of baseball in 2020, earlier on in the pandemic a one-city location like Phoenix was mentioned as a possibility. Now with more states starting to lift stay-at-home restrictions in early May such as Texas, Minnesota, Georgia, Florida and Colorado (in addition to Arizona), the ability to have a hub plan where teams are stationed in a limited number of cities (rather than one city or all the teams’ respective cities) becomes a legitimate option.

A 2020 MLB season will likely not include fans, but if it does, the stadiums will look a lot different. Passan mentioned that most doctors project that there will be no fans until there is a vaccine for COVID-19, which is expected sometime in 2021. However, owners may not accept that and therefore may look for ways to have fans come to games while still socially distancing. That may involve limiting stadiums to allow only half its capacity.

When all is said and done, and baseball resumes, the minor leagues will likely be affected the most. Passan does not expect any minor league games to be played in 2020.

“There is nothing official, no announcement, probably not one until MLB finalizes its plan, but the difficulty in wrangling it, and where it stands on the priority list, simply doesn’t compute,” wrote Passan.

Minor leaguers from the upper levels could actually benefit as MLB roster may be expanded due to a shortened spring training and so pitchers won’t have to pitch deep into games early on in the season. However, the vast majority of minor leaguers will suffer. Additionally, the plan to eliminate around 40 minor league teams is likelier now after the pandemic than when it was first suggested in October 2019.

While the details remain murky and unresolved overall, the optimism for a season of some form remains high.