Too much ink has been spilled in the last eight or nine months explaining how MLB and the players association, together with the COVID-19 pandemic, managed to cut the regular season calendar to 60 games in 2020. For weeks, even months, they couldn’t agree on essential, minimum requirements.
This time, however, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, informed clubs on a conference call Monday that they “should be preparing for spring training to start on time in February and to plan on a full 162-game season being played.”
The threat of the virus hasn’t gone away, but MLB learned a lot about social distancing, health and safety protocols during the 2020 season.