Major League Baseball has been paused since mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic, and while nothing is official yet, it sounds like the league is making plans for a best-case scenario in which spring training would resume in June and the regular season would begin in July.
According to a report from Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the league is planning to present a proposal to the Players Association as early as this week regarding what it would look like if spring training were to resume in June.
SNY's Andy Martino reported last week that MLB and the players could come to an agreement before the end of May regarding what the plan to restart looks like, and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported Wednesday that the league remains "confident" there will be a season in 2020.
Per The Post, "significant" obstacles remain, though, as teams in areas where the virus' fatality rate continues to climb want to make sure that all clubs will have enough testing capabilities and equipment to return safely to either their home cities or spring sites.
The other big issue, per The Post, is the players' pay. MLBPA Chief Tony Clark said on Monday that he hopes the season can begin "sooner rather than later," but MLB is expected to propose a pay scale different from the one the union agreed to in late March due to the impact of no fans being in attendance, and the union "almost certainly will reject it."
There are a number of issues that still need to be sorted out, and again, the proposal to resume spring training in June is viewed as a best-case scenario, but the league and union need to prepare for the best since there will be so much to get sorted logistically once an "all-clear" is given.
This reported proposal could be just a small step toward the 2020 season, but any progress, given safety is kept as the top priority, should be welcomed news to baseball fans.