What the 2020 MLB schedule could look like

What will the 2020 MLB schedule look like? Some questions need to be answered first.

The coronavirus has been a dominant foe against the professional sports community. It has forced the postponement or cancellation of the world’s biggest sporting events such as the NCAA Men’s and Women’s College Basketball Tournament, Wimbledon, The Masters and the NBA/NHL regular season.

Now, all eyes are on Major League Baseball and the two biggest questions the sport must answer are will there be a 2020 season and when will play begin? Everyone has their own theory and possible answers to these questions. Yes, even I have my own ideas on how the 2020 MLB schedule could look like.

So, let’s dive into this topic and dissect mine and other’s 2020 MLB schedule proposals:

What Lies Ahead For Rob Manfred

In a recent interview with ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred declared that “baseball will be back and part of the country’s recovery.” Manfred hopes the teams can get back to work in the near future. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that national social distancing guidelines be extended to April 30.

Provided that the virus case rate has slowed or even flatten throughout most of the United States, baseball could begin play on Memorial Day. However, figuring out the 2020 schedule will take Manfred to uncharted waters. He must navigate through all of the concerns, but the uncertainty of what lies ahead is where the conversation begins and ends for him.

Scott Boras’ 162-Game Schedule Proposal Has Definite Flaws

Many of the sport’s leading voices have offered their opinions on how the schedule should look like including baseball’s super-agent Scott Boras. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Boras proposed that baseball could play their traditional 162-game schedule and playoff format despite the lengthy delay to the start of the season.

It comes with one caveat; the postseason is played in warm-weather or dome stadium cities, with Game 7 of the World Series to be played on Christmas Day. Yes, you heard it right, baseball in December. And you can bet that Boras’ proposal came with an elaborate, multi-color PowerPoint presentation.

Don’t hold your breath baseball fans, no team owners want their sport played on Christmas Day. It’s bad enough for baseball competing with the NFL for TV ratings points in the months of September and October. It would be disastrous for them if you add two more months to the equation.

Having the postseason played in a neutral site is a horrible idea as well. October baseball will never be as big as the Super Bowl. Football fans plan a year in advance to attend the biggest game of the season. The greatness of the Super Bowl is more about the hype generated by the host city than the actual game itself.

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However, attending a World Series game is more of a spur-of-the-moment decision. Fans get caught up with the emotions from the preceding series. But all of that will be lost if baseball’s most important games are played at a neutral site.

You cannot play the regular season in front of the home folks, then move the postseason to baseball’s winter residence. This proposal puts the majority of all baseball fans in a financial bind if they want to see their favorite team compete for a title. Plus, higher-seeded teams lose their home-field advantage, especially the frenetic energy created by the crowd in Game 7s. Don’t turn the postseason into a mid-March spring training game with no emotion inside the ballpark.

A 144-Game Schedule Can Be Accomplished

Realistically, playing a 162-game schedule in the abbreviated timeline of a MLB season isn’t likely to happen. But, I believe a 144-game schedule can be played if Manfred eliminates the interleague (20 games) portion of the season. This allows him to keep the remaining schedule format intact with a few minor adjustments.

The current formula for a baseball schedule is a team plays 19 games against their four divisional opponents which equals 76 games. Then, they’re scheduled to play six games against four opponents outside their division and seven games against the remaining six opponents which equals 66 games. That comes to 142 games, so you add two games to the six opponents’ side of the formula to get the desired 144-game schedule.

Now, comes the tricky part of coordinating the dates on the calendar. If the MLB season can begin on Memorial Day, my 144-game can be completed by October 11 provided doubleheaders are played every Sunday of the regular season with a few exceptions.

Those exceptions are the Sunday before Fourth of July and Labor Day are singles games as doubleheaders will be played on those holiday dates. And in this day and age, you can expect the majority of the doubleheaders played as day/night affairs. Plus, every team will have Mondays off except on Labor Day and the final two weeks of the regular season in October is played without a day off.

Let’s create some excitement for the fans by increasing the number of playoff teams to eight in each league. The first two rounds will be a five-game series, with the LCS and World Series remaining a best of seven series. Hopefully, the extra round of playoffs will recoup some lost revenue from a shortened season for the owners.

Okay, we have a schedule and dates in place, now let’s get the players back on the field. Well, the re-start of spring training should take place at each team’s facility. But instead of resuming the spring training schedule, let’s begin the regular season shortly thereafter with an expanded roster. At first, we’ll expand the roster to 40, then whittle the number to 30 before finally reaching the mandatory 26 players requirement. This approach avoids any chance of overextending starting pitchers and everyday players in the process.

A cancellation of the 2020 season is highly unlikely unless the top medical officials believe social gathering puts attending fans at extreme risk of getting sick. Manfred will consider every alternative before deciding that canceling the 2020 MLB season was the best option.

Let’s hope for the best.