Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the MLB is reportedly likely to suspend spring training and push back Opening Day.
The growing concern regarding the coronavirus has greatly affected the sports world. The NBA, NCAA, NHL, and NFL have all taken some sort of action, whether that’s the suspension or cancellation of events, the closing of training facilities, or the banning of fans.
Major League Baseball has been pretty quiet though…until now.
Jeff Passan of ESPN reported on Thursday that the MLB is likely to suspend spring training and push back Opening Day. This decision will come after a Thursday afternoon conference call among owners. The first regular-season games are scheduled to take place on Thursday, March 26.
After a conference call among owners this afternoon, Major League Baseball is expected to suspend spring training. The league likely will delay the beginning of the regular season as well. At this point, it's a formality that ownership-level sources expect to happen.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 12, 2020
Spring training is currently taking place and will until later this month. Teams only have a certain number of games left. The New York Mets, for example, have 13 matchups remaining until their Opening Day game against the Washington Nationals on the 26th.
Realistically, the remainder of the exhibition-game slate should be canceled. If there’s not a significant number of games left, then there’s no point in suspending it for the time being. Cancel it completely and figure out what the next steps should be.
If MLB Opening Day is indeed pushed back, it’s unclear what exact date it would start. It would possibly be a day in April, but then it could be postponed again if this outbreak becomes worse, which may definitely occur.
More information will be provided to the fans as time progresses. All in all, it’s a crazy and interesting time to be a sports fan. None of us have ever really witnessed anything like this in our lives.