MLB Owners and Players Trying to Reach a Deal, if not Commissioner Manfred Will Implement 54-60 Game Season

The long and winding road for a 2020 MLB season finally looks like it's coming to an end, as commissioner Rob Manfred and union chief Tony Clark are trying to hammer out a deal today, but if not, the commissioner will simply implement a 54-60 game season which is due to start in late July with an expanded postseason.

After a weekend where the MLB players association failed to take a vote on the 60-game proposal put forth by the owners, today it sounds like things are progressing towards finally there being some type of announcement for a 2020 campaign.

USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweeted out Monday the following about things moving towards an announcement on how many games will be set to get played for 2020 in baseball.

Everything appears to be coming to a head today: #MLB and the #MLBPA are trying to see if they can reach a last-minute agreement on a 60-game season this afternoon or Commissioner Rob Manfred will implement a 54-60 game season.

Manfred, in a letter to union chief Tony Clark over the weekend, stated that if 60 games are not played in full due to the covid-19 virus that recently has seen an upswing, that the owners would be willing to forgo the universal DH policy next season, along with not expanding the postseason in 2021 from 10 to 16 teams.

On Sunday it was reported that spring training now looks like it wouldn’t take place until the week of June 29 to July 4, and the season would finally start somewhere around the 24 to 27 of July.

At 60 games, that would end the season around the 22 to 24 of September, with the expanded postseason able to start within a couple days of the season ending.

It would be a win for everyone if somehow Manfred could get on the same page as Clark and the two sides could make nice and reach a deal, but the commissioner isn’t about to allow the season to be anymore delayed.