Major League Baseball continues to explore different ways to get the 2020 season started.
A potential scenario discussed in a story by Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports notes that MLB is considering realigning the National and American League into three divisions based on geography, with teams being able to play in their home ballparks without fans.
Per USA Today, MLB officials "have become optimistic" that a season of at least 100 games could begin in late June or "no later than July 2," with 10-team divisions in which teams would only play within their own division.
The divisions would be aligned as follows:
East: Mets, Yankees, Red Sox, Nationals, Orioles, Phillies, Pirates, Blue Jays, Rays, Marlins
West: Dodgers, Angels, Giants, Athletics, Padres, Diamondbacks, Rockies, Rangers, Astros, Mariners
Central: Cubs, White Sox, Brewers, Cardinals, Royals, Reds, Indians, Twins, Braves, Tigers
The three "plans" that have come to light so far are the "Arizona plan" (all 30 teams play in and around Phoenix), the "Cactus and Grapefruit League plan" (teams play in Florida and Arizona, based at their spring training facilities), and the "Arizona, Texas, and Florida plan" (teams split up between hubs in those three states).
This new divisional split is similar to the Grapefruit and Cactus League split, which would also have the Mets and Yankees playing in the same league but different division, but the geographical split would seemingly make things easier for the Mets than the Grapefruit schedule, since they wouldn't have to play the Braves, Astros, Twins, or Cardinals.
USA Today notes that the plan would be for teams to play in their home stadiums without fans in attendance, though there's a chance play would need to begin in one of the "hubs" - such as Texas, Arizona, and Florida - until all teams are able to play in their home stadiums, which has been discussed in the previous plans.
One of the encouraging signs, USA Today notes, is that coronavirus testing is becoming more available.
According to SNY's Andy Martino, with the caveat that the coronavirus will determine the outcome, the first step toward the 2020 season could be an agreement between the league and players in May on how the season will proceed.
After that, per Martino, the next step would be a few weeks of spring training in June and the start of regular season games in July.
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