In an interview with Scott Van Pelt of ESPN on Wednesday night, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred spoke about the current status of baseball operations and gave fans a sense of when they may be returning to action.

“Baseball will be back,” Manfred said. “Whenever it’s safe to play, we’ll be back. Our fans will be back. Our players will be back. And we will be part of the recovery, the healing in this country, from this particular pandemic.”

Manfred went on to say that in the best case scenario, the earliest we can expect the players to start gearing back into action is sometime in early May. While he assured that they are committed to playing as many regular-season games as possible, he also said that it is unlikely that a full 162-game season will take place.

As this is a fluid situation, an official plan has not been fully developed or announced yet. Manfred added that “nothing’s off the table for us right now,” and he has been having ongoing conversations with the players’ association about adjusting the schedule as necessary.

These conversations have included discussions of a potential increase in doubleheaders, and didn’t rule out the idea of seven-inning games. While Manfred has publicly stated previously that he will never change the amount of innings in a game, this is a unique situation that may just call for a radical move like that.

With all that has been going on recently, from dealing with this global pandemic to negotiating a proposal to increase pay for minor leaguers, Manfred admitted that he has not had the time to announce an official ruling on the sign-stealing allegations against the Boston Red Sox from the 2018 season.

“We are done with the investigation,” Manfred said. “There’s been a delay in terms of producing a written report, just because I, frankly, have not had time to turn to it with the other issues. But we will get a Boston report out before we resume play.”

As for whether fans will be allowed to attend games when play does eventually start up again, a decision has not been made, but Manfred said he is committed to as smooth a transition to normalcy as possible. He also added that “it will mark a real milestone” when things return to normal.

But for now, we’re left here waiting, still not sure exactly how or when the 2020 MLB season will be played, and we’ll have to wait at least a month before the players even think about stepping on a baseball field again.