Major League Baseball is expected to be suspending the remainder of 2020 Spring Training games with the outbreak and spread of COVID-19, Coronavirus. Following the suspension of Spring Training, the league is expected to be announcing that the start of the regular season will be delayed/pushed back, with no definite timeline in place.
The expectation now is that the start of the regular season will be delayed as well. MLB will be making a statement today on this.
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) March 12, 2020
So spring training games will halt as of Friday
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) March 12, 2020
The entire sports world has been put into a frenzy after the mass spread and outbreak of COVID-19, Coronavirus, throughout the United States as well as other countries. With National Basketball Association (NBA) suspending its season following the positive tests of two Utah Jazz players, it set a precedent for different leagues.
Since the NBA suspension of the season, the National Hockey League (NHL) has suspended its season for the time being. Many college basketball tournaments have been suspended/canceled, and the overhaul has even made its way into the NCAA Baseball scene where the Southeastern Conference (SEC) has canceled games through March 30th.
There are teams across the league who had already begun exploring other options for their home games to start the season. The Seattle Mariners had pre-emptively started exploring options for neutral sites or spring training facilities to conduct home games through April. The Oakland Athletics had also come out and decided to move their home games through the end of March after the COVID-19 outbreak has worsened.
The league will provide more updates as more information is available, but for now, it seems that the regular season will be suspended for some time.
