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MLB’s Great Pennant Race: The 60-Game Sprint
Is your ‘getcha-beer-here’ half-full or half-empty?
Known for its marathon seasons, Covid-19 has forced MLB to play the 2020 version as a sprint. When you add in the bookend months of Spring Training and the postseason, MLB’s usual calendar fills up eight and a half months.
Not this year, as MLB plans a 60-game schedule over 66 days. It will be their shortest season since 1878, playing only 37% of their normal 162 games.
On July 1, teams are scheduled to report to their home ballparks for Spring Training 2.0. Opening Day is being targeted for July 23 and July 24.
MLB is planning two nationally televised games on July 23 and everyone else beginning on the 24th. Each team will play 40 games within its division and 20 interleague games against their rival division. (AL East vs. NL East, AL Central vs. NL Central, AL West vs. NL West).
MLB contemplated realignment but preferred to keep the traditional divisions intact. In this format, all interleague games will feature regional games with limited travel.
The season is expected to end on September 27. The playoffs and World Series will follow suit. It’s also unknown at this writing if the playoff field will be expanded from 10 teams to 16 as previously discussed.
