With a long and hectic Major League Baseball 2020 season finally coming to an end, fans and players reminisce how they got there and what hurdles they faced along the way.
With an expected March 26 opening Day, and COVID-19 surging across the nation, March 12 brought news no baseball fan was hoping for. On this day, spring training was cancelled and the season would be pushed back at least two weeks. As the pages continued to flip on the calendar, the start of the 2020 MLB season looked bleak.
Several plans and scenarios proposed by either the MLB or the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) were disagreed upon due to issues including safety, salaries, and the amount of games that would be played in this season. Finally in June, the league and players reached an agreement to play a 60-game season. Other new rule changes were added like the universal DH, expanded playoffs, updated schedules and 7-inning double header games.
This already buzzing season hadn’t even begun yet. Included in this proposal, players would report for training on July 1 in which players reported to their home stadiums and trained alongside their teams for the first time since March. Instead of a second Spring Training, people across the MLB called it “Summer Camp” in which teams trained with their teammates and played games either inner-squad, half of the team versus the other half or against local teams.
As teams jumped immediately back into baseball, the long-awaited 2020 season began. July 23 brought only two games which included the New York Yankees vs the reigning World Series Champions, The Washington Nationals and the Los Angeles Dodgers vs the San Francisco Giants. The rest of the league began their seasons the next day (July 24)
COVID-19 proved to be the major hurdle for this year’s season as teams had players who tested positive for the virus starting the season. Players including Juan Soto, Freddie Freeman, DJ LeMahieu, and Aroldis Chapman started off the year on the Injured List after testing positive. Players like Buster Posey, Nick Markakis, and David Price all opted-out of the 2020 season in fear of contracting the virus.
The first outbreak occurred within the Miami Marlins team as a total of 18 players tested positive. The team went eight days without playing. The St. Louis Cardinals followed with another outbreak of nine players and seven staff members with COVID. They went more than two weeks without a game. With constant COVID-19 news across the baseball world, a halt of the 2020 season seemed likely. Although, MLB officials decided to push through these obstacles.
The postseason also brought surprises amongst this whirlwind of a baseball season. With the newly implemented expanded playoffs, eight teams per league made the playoffs. That included the first and second place teams and two wild card teams with the next best records.
With this new format teams like the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals, both teams who were greatly impacted by COVID had a spot in the playoffs. An additional rule for the playoffs included playing games in bubble cities where the American league played games in San Diego and Los
Angeles, CA while the National League played in Houston and Arlington, Texas.
The powerhouse of the Los Angeles Dodgers came out on top after beating the Tampa Bay Rays in six games during the 2020 World Series. New records were set as outfielder for the Tampa Bay Rays, Randy Arozorena set the record for most home runs and hits in a single postseason. Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager also performed extremely well as he was awarded both NLCS and World Series MVP due to his strong performances.
Baseball fans across the world applaud the efforts of the players, coaches, staff, and officials during this abnormal 2020 season.