Mack – Do’s and Don’ts Of The 2020 Season

Good morning.

As best as I can determine, here are some of the details on the 2020 season:

          

           The season starts July 23-24th.

           Training camps will be in home cities, not their respective spring                      training complex. Look for the Cyclones site to be used here.

No doubleheaders scheduled

Games rained out will be rescheduled as part of a doubleheader.

Suspended games due to weather will be rescheduled as part of a doubleheader and the game will continue at the point of the suspension.

Position players will be allowed to pitch at any time in the game. This reverses a new rule that restricted this from happening.

Players can only argue six feet away from an umpire. If they violate this, they could be suspended. (Worth it)

The 60-game schedule will be 40 against existing division teams and 20 against teams in a corresponding interleague division. Example: 40 Mets games against NL East teams. 20 games against AL East teams.

Playoffs will consist of five teams from eacvh league.... three division winner and two wild cards.  One game winner take all wild card games... best 3-5 division series... 7-game World Series.

Schedules have not been determined yet.

Universal DH in 2020.

60 players per team… 40 from the current 40-man squad and 20 more from the affiliates.

You can have 30 players on your active roster for the first two weeks of the season. It drops to 28 players on the 15^th day of the season and then 26 two weeks later.

You can have as many pitchers as you like on your roster.

Here comes the health rules…

Batters will have to now bring their own pine-tar rags and bat donuts to and from the on-deck circle (what isn’t clear to me is does these items have to remain on the field untouched if a batter hits, say, a double. Do they lay their stuff next to the rags and donuts of the next player? What about if the bases get loaded? Three rags and donuts?).

In addition, they will have to retrieve their own gloves and sunglasses from the dugout when the inning ends (will someone still throw a baseball to the first baseman when he comes back in the dugout at the end of an inning?).

Pitchers will have to bring their own rosin bags and can only use their own baseballs for bullpen sessions.

Three batter rule remains in place for relief pitchers.

Baseballs used in batting practice can only be sued that day. They then have to be cleaned and sanitized and not used again for five days (so, not only does a team have a 5-man rotation, but also a 5-day ball usage). 

COVID wise... players, coaches, and support staff will be tested every day...  temperature checks twice a day... antibody test once a month... players not participating in the game will sit in stands six feet apart... non-player personnel must wear masks... no exchange of lineup cards.... no high fives or fist bumps... no spitting... no chewing tobacco or sunflower seeds...  balls will be thrown out once it is touched by more than two players (every pitch???).... no fights... no garbage can banging (had to throw that in).... 

If a player tests positive, he will be placed o the COVID-IL.... will not be reinstated until he tests negative twice in a row.

The length of all IL payers will be 10 days.

Extra innings will start with a runner on second base.

Teams were allowed to start signing new players this past Friday.

Trade deadline is August 31st.

Sorry if I missed something here.