Late Sunday night, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), published new recommendations in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The new recommendations from the CDC were the suggested cancellation of all events with 50 or more people in attendance for the next eight weeks. Originally, the league had set an rather optimistic tentative start date of early April for the Texas Rangers and the rest of the clubs. That, while an unlikely start date in the first place, has now been bypassed after the league changed the tentative season start date on Monday.
MLB released a statement detailing a call between Commissioner Rob Manfred and the 30 teams in the league in which it was decided that the start date of the regular season would be moved back in compliance with the new guidelines set forth by the CDC.