Major League Baseball announced that they will cancel spring training and delay the 2020 regular season by at least two weeks due to the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) within the United States. In addition, World Baseball Classic Qualifier games will also be postponed indefinitely.
MLB stated, “MLB and the Clubs have been preparing a variety of contingency plans regarding the 2020 regular season schedule. MLB will announce the effects on the schedule at an appropriate time and will remain flexible as events warrant, with the hope of resuming normal operations as soon as possible.”
The league owners held a conference call Thursday afternoon to formalize a plan before the suspension was announced.
The NBA was the first major sports league to suspend its season on Wednesday night after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus.
MLS followed on Thursday morning and announced the league will also suspend all its games for 30 days “as the league continues to assess the impact of COVID-19 with its medical task force and public health officials.”
NHL canceled all morning skates and practices Thursday morning before officially announcing the suspension of the 2019-20 season on Thursday afternoon.
When any of these leagues will resume play remains to be seen. While MLS has implemented a 30-day suspension and MLB has pushed games back two weeks, those numbers are arbitrary at this point as we don’t know how long before things are contained and when any of these sports are deemed safe to play.
