Vincent Carchietta/USA TODAY Sports
Major Baseball isn’t giving up hope.
According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, MLB is discussing a plan to salvage the 2020 season by starting in late June, and no later than July 2. The new season would only be for 100 regular season games, and would allow the teams to play in their own home parks.
To help facilitate this and to cut down on travel, MLB is looking to realign the divisions, opting instead to go with only three-divisions comprising of 10 teams each. The teams would only play within their division.
Under this proposed structure, the traditional set-up of American and National Leagues would be gone, instead being replaced with the East, West, and Central Divisions. The divisions would be made up of teams based on their geographic region.
Here is a breakdown of which teams would be in each division.
EAST
- New York Yankees, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, Washington Nationals, Baltimore Orioles, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Rays, Miami Marlins
WEST
- Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels, San Francisco Giants, Oakland Athletics, San Diego Padres, Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, Texas Rangers, Houston Astros, Seattle Mariners
CENTRAL
- Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals, Kansas City Royals, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Minnesota Twins, Atlanta Braves, Detroit Tigers
Despite the teams playing in their home stadiums, there will still be no spectating fans to help contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
The plan is still pending the approval of medical experts, but seems like a more realistic approach to opening the season, rather than isolating all the teams in Arizona and Florida at their spring training sites.
