The 2020 Major League Baseball season began on July 23, a day in which there were just over 70,000 new coronavirus cases reported in the United States. On Friday, when M.L.B. presented a proposal to the players’ union to push back the start of the 2021 season by roughly a month — and shave eight games off each team’s schedule — more than 165,000 new cases were reported.
Now, amid deep uncertainty about how and when the pandemic might be contained, the league and players are working on plans for the 2021 season — one that without modification would begin on April 1 with a full 162-game schedule and normal travel plans.