The MLB returned to play on July 23rd for a fast 60 game season where every game is important.  After a long, arduous dispute between the MLB and the MLBPA regarding salaries, game locations and many other factors, eventually the two sides were able to come to an agreement. At the end of the day, it all worked out, and we have baseball back. 

Now, if you would have asked me last year what the major headline would be for the MLB, I likely would have guessed it had to do with the Astros cheating scandal. As it turns out,  that could not be further from the truth.  However, amid the coronavirus pandemic and the shortened season, almost no one in sports media has mentioned the controversy of the sign-stealing scandal.

In regards to the coronavirus, the MLB went in the total opposite in COVID-19 prevention as opposed to other professional leagues, such as the NBA.  The NBA decided to play in a “bubble” at the Wide World of Sports Resort in Orlando, Florida, where practically no one was allowed to come and go, in order to prevent the virus from potentially ruining the NBA season.w However, the MLB decided not to play in a bubble and so far one could say it’s been a bit of a mess. Multiple teams have had COVID-19 outbreaks, such as the St. Louis Cardinals, Miami Marlins and Cincinnati Reds. None of these outbreaks have led to any drastic health consequences for players or coaches, but it has forced the MLB to recreate the schedule on the fly. For example, the St. Louis Cardinals have to play 53 games in 44 days to make up for the time they had off. Along with the scheduling headache, some teams are requiring players to take individual cars to each of their games. The Cardinals used 41 different rental cars to travel to their series in Chicago against the Cubs this week.

While the MLB season has looked in Jeopardy most of the year, I think it will finish because we have gotten this far.  Due to the shortened season, it will be much easier for a team playing well to make it far into the postseason; however, it is also easy to get behind and miss the playoffs this year.  In the end, I expect the Dodgers and the Braves to come out of the NL and the Astros and Yankees to come out of the AL. It would be a fitting cap to the end of the season should the Dodgers and Astros wind up playing each other in the World Series, but this could very well be a potential matchup. It would certainly cap off 2020 in a crazy way.