In what amounts to a statement of optimism, Major League Baseball has decided to announce the schedule for the 2021 season much earlier than is usual — and before the current campaign has even begun. Each team’s Twitter account has provided the relevant schedule, for those that want a closer look.
The plan is for Opening Day to take place on April 1st, with every team launching play on the same day. The regular season would run through October 3rd, assuming no interruptions.
As you’d expect, the 2020 season’s unusual scheduling provisions are going to be a one-time approach. The typical breakdown of games will be utilized in 2021. Interleague play will be geographic, with the respective East, Central, and West divisions playing one another.
There’s no indication as of yet as to what kind of attendance expectations the league has. Needless to say, that will depend upon quite a few as-yet-unknown developments in the interim.
Let’s hope 2021 goes, and goes smoothly. And not just from a baseball or sports perspective, either.
May as well release 2022 to go along with it. That way we know what we have to look forward to til the rapture or whatever they calling it these days, some call it fake news
Some of you really worry about dumb sxxt in your life.
MLB should really re-think its approach to PR
Opening day is on April 1st, that tells you everything you need to know about Major League Baseball.
Fools.
MLB is easy to criticize on many topics; criticizing for an April 1 Opening Day seems petty.
though, it was fun.
I think it’s an April Fool’s Day reference, not a critique? I’m not sure though x-D
Get real. There is ZERO chance the 2020 is finished and VERY VERY unlikely the 2021 season starts on time too Coivd-19 is NOT going away any time soon.
Oh no!
Not the flu!
“Get real”?
Hoping you get the irony.
You rather have opening day in March?
Optimistic for sure.
April 15 at 2:20 am: Titanic releases dinner menu for April 16!
FSogol – Lol…that’s what I was getting at in my comment above. Well done.
A little early for me. Let’s see how this year plays out. Of course they need to plan but why the rush other than to get a discussion going about next year instead of more of the same on 2020?
Excellent comment!
When there used to be a circus, and a terrible accident would happen, clowns would be sent in to draw attention away from the accident scene.
Releasing next year’s schedule now kind of reminds me of the same approach.
There will be a vaccine by the end of the year. High risk people will get the first shot, then moderate risk people will get the next shot and so on. In a year this will be much more like the normal flu than it is now.
That is what should happen but remember we were told if you wanted a test you can get it. that never happened.
arc89. Did you want a test?
Everyone I know that has reason for a test has got one. Including my mom.
However, there are always supply issues. Remember when we ran out of toilet paper? People are crazy. If everyone who simply wanted a test got a test, then the people who needed tests couldn’t get them.
If you have a reason for a test, you can get one.
We were also told you could keep your primary MD several years ago. The good primary MDs got smart and opted out.
I lost my doctor. My wife lost her doctor. My son lost his pediatrician.
There are always consequences. And they usually affect people who pay the bills.
In this post we are talking about circumventing MLB extra innings and going T-Mobile. Who do you think is going to end up paying for that?
The fans as usual.
For the amount I used to spend at a game I don’t mind buying/paying for the subscription. Where I live I’m blacked out of games the Dodgers play against the Dbacks and Rockies. I’m okay with that.
Having games blacked out is ok… just so long as you can watch them on your local cable network.
It blows my mind that A’s games are blacked out and my local network doesn’t show them. That’s why I got rid of my local network for you-tube tv.
Thanks Halo. I just got my refund but have T-Mobile. I can look into it. That said, I’m hopeful MLB will look for some good will and give away the 60 games at least for those who only want to follow their team in live outside the market. It would be a positive spin after so many mistakes.
Halo11Fan, you are a very optimistic sort. I guess you have to be to be an Angels fan. The idea of an effective vaccine anytime ever, seems overly optimistic to me. Flu vaccines have been available for a very long time, and their effectiveness isn’t very good. If a CoVid vaccine is as effective as the flu vaccine, CoVid will become as common as a cold and the flu.
Yeah there’s no reason to believe that an effective vaccine will even be created by the end of the year (if it’s properly tested, it would literally be impossible for that happen), let alone manufactured to scale and widely distributed by then.
The coronavirus pandemic has caught governments worldwide unprepared, and many enlisted the private sector to help. The United States was no different, even invoking the Defense Production Act. The federal government has mobilized thousands of companies – including some of the largest in the world – awarding them contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars to help in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
I’m no expert, this is a particular strain that is not mutating like other strains.
Right now they are producing vaccines in volume, normally they wait until testing is complete.
I don’t consider myself an optimist or a pessimist, I just try to analyze whatever data I can get.
I’m in my 60s. I don’t want to get this and I’m doing everything possible to avoid it.
Funny, I read last week it was mutating to be more common but less dangerous. I’ve also read it is mutating to be more deadly but less common. Others say it is not mutating at all.
Maybe … no one really knows for sure?
Does anyone know? 🙂 But if it’s mutating to become less dangerous, then the vaccine against the dangerous version should be good.
If it’s mutating to become more dangerous…. we are in big trouble.
Companies are producing vaccines now in volume. Private enterprise is sharing the risk with tax payers.
If a private enterprise is doing something, I’m optimistic, if the goverment is doing something… not so much.
Private enterprise: From the people that brought you the $3500 epi-pen.
My son uses an epi-pen. You are exaggerating, however, businesses need over-site. They are not by nature altruistic.
But this is a technology issue. When it comes to technology and greed i trust that to get the job done far more than I trust altruism.
I’ve read so much conflicting information. One real interesting article indicated that the recent rise of positive tests was because the newer tests were testing for all versions of Corona Virus, and not just this new one. Which means people with the virus that causes the common cold were getting positive results. Others said the novel corona virus was becoming more like the common cold anyway, but it was indeed the “novel” version that was causing the positives.
Really, no one knows for sure. My mother was British and lived during the War, She was very much a “Keep Calm and Carry On” sort, and I tend to be the same way.
I drive cautiously on icy dangerous roads. We are living in an era of icy dangerous roads.
Some people know that, and act accordingly. Some people don’t and kill people. But they survive, so they don’t care if they cause a chain of events that kills others.
Interestingly, the epi-pen was invented by “Sheldon Kaplan [who] first invented the ComboPen, an auto-injector filled with nerve gas antidote, for the U.S military in the 1970s.”
Source: *https://www.healthline.com/health-news/strange-history-of-epipen#1*
Military and the 70s.
Do you give blood? There is a reason why they ask if you served in the military in the 70s.
My brother did. I won’t go into the problems he now has because of it.
My bro-in-law had this issue.
Not an expert, but my understanding from reading: COVID has been mutating less rapidly than the seasonal flu so far, so that improves the chances that a vaccine will be effective.
Of course, we are learning more about the virus every day, and seeing previous conclusions modified by new data, but this seems to be the current scientific consensus.
Their producing early in volume, looking for an Aaron Rodgers miracle. Not bad odds if they get Aaron Rodgers. Let’s however hope their not using Tim Tebow …
Lol
Not a chance. Coivd-19 is here for AT LEAST another 12-18 months.
Covid is here until November 4th. Then it miraculously goes away.
Randy, where are you getting your doom and gloom news.
It looks like we may already have a successful trial, and if it can be verified, Pfizer said it will produce 100 million doses before the end of the year and more than a billion doses next year, WJLA reports.
This isn’t the flu, but it also shouldn’t stop society in its tracks.
No DH? That would be a shame. Nobody wants to watch pitchers hit and give me a break about the “strategy” aspect – that is so overblown. Some of the good changes should remain even if there’s no pandemic next year.
Baseball with a DH is a farce. The game is centered around a player being in the game the entire time. Once removed, they should no longer be allowed to reenter.
That’s an interesting argument. So, if a team could pinch hit for the pitcher, and the pitcher was allowed to remain in the game, you wouldn’t have a problem?
good one!
Pitchers hitting is very entertaining. The world could use a laugh or two every now and then.
The last time a pitcher hitting was entertaining …Big Sexy hit a home run
There are some who can hit. Forget today, the Sox years ago had two they used as pinch hitters for other pitchers, Sonny Siebert and Gary Peters. My first game at Fenway and Siebert hit two homers, missing a third by a few feet. As Archie And Edith sang, Those Were The Days…
Mr. Ohtani says Hi! Also in the vein of changing the game and keeping it the same how about this idea? The NL adopts the DH AND the AL reinstates the pitcher hitting. That way every position hits and the DH becomes universal.
Why not expand DH for any position player that is a “ good glove” but can’t hit above the Mendoza line if high scoring games is what you want? Me personally, I lose interest in the 10-8 games, plus they tend to extend past 4 hours. For this old STH, gets tiresome sitting at ballpark for that long night after night.
Why the hyperbole? In a nutshell, pitchers are a unique position.
No hyperbole. For the most part, the DHers can only do one thing, hit. That’s pretty unique in itself.
For the most part you are wrong. Most DHs can do a lot of things.
Very few DHs couldn’t play a position if required to play one.
Or just end the DH. We aren’t entitled to having one.
You are right about the 10-8 games and the longer games. The odd high scoring game would be entertaining. The frequent high scoring games aren’t. The highest rated games in baseball history featured peak, hall of fame pitchers going toe to toe, or pitchers regarded as the best in baseball but weren’t hall of famers. The point is, dominant pitching still brings better ratings than the longball and better pitching leads to quicker, more compelling games.
Where there a lot of 1-0 games in the National League where both pitchers went deep into the game?
I like low scoring games, and I also like pitchers having to work for them. I hate how the pitcher spot completely deadens innings. If the #8 hitter comes up in a crucial spot, he’s walked. If the #8 hitter makes the last out of an inning, then the next inning starts off with an out.
It’s not so much the pitcher batting I hate, it’s what teams are able to do with the guy hitting in front of the pitcher that I hate.
Pitchers hitting kills two lineup spots and hurts a third. That’s a third of your lineup.
Why are we even talking about this?? Coivd-19 will kill the 2020 season and GREATLY delay the start of the 2021 season too.
Wow Randy! Do you have a bunker with 5 years of food supply too?
I’d have to look at the MLB rule book, but in high school and college ball you can use a DH for any position. Meaning you can allow your pitcher to hit, and use the DH for your solid glove 2B who can’t hit his own weight. I’m sure it’s the same in the MLB. It’s just in the MLB pitchers aren’t as good of a hitter typically, where in high school and college your best hitter could also be your best pitcher.
If they want to make the gamer shorter, why not play only five innings? It would seem like the old days as starters could pitch a complete game… Let’s get back to baseball, raise the mound and push the fences back again to force batters to learn the science of hitting. Oh how ted William’s head is screaming in the freezer…
that’s odd, i never recall being “nobody”
Without exaggeration and hyperbole we might actually have interesting discussions.
That’s a format that can confound some people.
Seems to me it’s only interesting to you, if you agree with it,
You’re wrong.
Didnt even start 2020 and they come out with 2021?….
Having a schedule in place allows the sales and marketing staffs to go back to work after being furloughed.
On 9/11, the 20th anniversary the Yankees are in queens playing the mets…… 3 inter league games on opening day …
I guess with universal DH, there really isnt such a thing as inter league games. I’m not sure why they didnt redesign the division to more accurately reflect playing against each other.
I suspect that will be a big part of the next CBA. I think AL and NL will go away, and we’ll see realigment along geographic territories,. I’m not looking forward to that, though there will some advantages as well (fewer games outside of the teams’ time zones being a big one).
they aren’t getting rid of AL and NL. NFL does it that way and it works fine. plus youre going to anger a lot of people for no good reason.
I subscribe to MLBTV and cancelled it in March and surprisingly got a refund of the $127.00 that I had paid. I received an e-mail from MLB yesterday offering a $60.00 rate for 60 games but also offered a discount of $15.00 so $45.00 for the short season providing they ever play and who knows how many they will play.Essentially before the discount I would be paying basically half for 60 games as opposed to 162, thanks for nothing. Not only that, they are still enforcing the stupid blackouts. I sent them an e-mail telling them to go F theirselves and told them they were just like the airlines, they hate their customers. Anyone else get this e-mail?
Blackouts are MLB rules. Maybe they will waive them.
I got an email, they are prorating this season’s cost and applying the overage to next season.
I don’t have to worry about skimping and saving, so this isn’t a big deal.
I get MLB.TV via Extra Innings on Direct TV. I can watch every single game.
I guess there are blackout areas that do not have access to the RSN of the blacked-out teams. That needs to be addressed.
But if you can subscribe to the RSN, complaining about MLB.TV blackouts is basically about being cheap.
I had extra innings and my provider did not offer Oakland A’s games. Spectrum blacked them out.
So, I couldn’t watch a single A’s game. After complaining for three years, I finally got smart and bought you-tube tv.
Where I live both Giants and A’s games are blacked out on MLB.TV until 90 minutes after the game. What’s weird is that if when I went to Washington D.C. last year, the Nationals games were not blacked out. I wonder if it has to do with my location or something other I have not thought of.
I picked my provider based on live sports, hence Direct TV. I don’t watch much else (though other people in my house do).
use ‘hola!’ free vpn. it does wonders. i live in netherland as far as mlb.tv is concerned. you have press fix button twice for it to work seamlessly.
With extra innings, every time you turn on a game, there’s a guy on second base. And the first thing you say is, “Who’s on second?”
Not sure why anyone would pay that for MLB.TV when T-Mobile offers it for free every season and T-Mobile customers routinely sell their accounts for $5-$10.
T-Mo has also stated that the offer will be back this season.
I get it free with Direct TV. My work pays my cell phone, and they go with Verizon.
it’s just that t-mobile blows.
Someone has to pay for it.
They provide a service, which I use, and they deserve to be paid for their service.
Why do I pay for it. Because it is a fair market transaction.
So you think T-Mo gets all those MLB.TV subscriptions for free?
No.
I have no idea about the contract. But I know if someone is underpaying, someone is overpaying.
I see a few comments here regarding blackouts in TV coverage; while this isn’t an on-topic post for the article, it’s an observation on the blackout rules.
I live in Memphis; I’m blacked out on St. Louis, Cincinnati and Atlanta. Does anybody else think maybe they should reconsider this a little? I imagine the idea behind a blackout is to prevent people from passing on buying a ticket for the game to watch it on TV; I get it. And since Memphis is the AAA team to St. Louis, I sort of understand that, too. But… does MLB REALLY think that I will spur-of-the-moment drive to see a Reds or a Braves game? That’s far enough away to NOT be a little day trip; it would take planning, vacation time, hotel accommodations, tickets bought well in advance… all that. Point being, blacking out the Reds and the Braves in Memphis doesn’t make it ANY more likely that I’m going to go ahead and just drive to see the game in person, and it certainly doesn’t do the Reds and Braves much good in regards to my interest in those teams.
Am I way off base here?
YES!!!!! I live in Nevada and have A’s games blacked out.
It’s crazy.
Live streaming is sooo ahead of cable packages right now, as it should be.
Blackouts have killed the future generation of baseball fans. When you go years with blackouts you take the viewing choice away from people, and they won’t take too kindly to it. I think that has contributed the rising age median of the average baseball fan.
It is ridiculous. We should not be subjected to a blackout. Let all baseball leagues compete for your viewership.
Will Bill, I’m of the generation that could only watch a few games a week. I’m not convinced blackouts really effect anything. As long as MLB and the RSNs can leverage their product with the carriers by blacking out MLB.TV, they will continue to do it. It sucks for some but I’m not sure it matters much to “future generations.”
You, sure. The numbers would disagree with you as the generation that has lost out on games thanks to blackouts have found other things to do than watch baseball.
absolutely agree.
Hubcap, “I imagine the idea behind a blackout is to prevent people from passing on buying a ticket for the game to watch it on TV; I get it.” is not the reason. The idea is to force local carriers to pick up the RSN. So, in Memphis, do any carriers carry the STL CIN or ATL RSNs? If not, the idea is that you and others like you complain enough to the carriers so they add the RSNs. It has nothing to do with attending games in person.
Smokin’ Joe, thanks for the input! Xfinity (man, TALK about a potential rant) has stations that carry SOME of each of those team’s games. To my knowledge, there’s no way I could see all of the games of any of those teams (I’m a Cards fan, so always on the lookout). We have a FoxSouth station in the area that carries most of the Braves games – that’s as close as I can get. Of the three, I just don’t understand why I don’t get more Cards games – a LOT of Cards fans in Memphis, due in no small part to the Redbirds.
hub cap, if you haven’t already, look into Direct TV and see which RSNs they will offer you in Memphis. I have RSNS that carry the three teams that are blacked out in my area. Which means in effect, I have no blackouts.
Or move to Central Indiana. I’ll you now though, the food and music is better in Memphis.
I work in the music industry, have for a half century… Been in Memphis for a dozen years now, and I can’t see myself dying anywhere but here! This place is mecca for a music junkie like me.
Move to NC Indiana. Not a single team within a 3-hour radius, yet at least 4 teams blacked out (Chicagos, Detroit, Cincy). Probably St. Louis, Cleveland and Pittsburgh, too…
Would be a good time to trim the season down a bit. Maybe 154 games
Can you get players to take less money?
Bingo!
if things arent normal by April 1st 2021 then more than just sports are in trouble
I’m good with it. Make a plan and flex as needed.
So MLB is charging $60, or half of the regular price for a full season for MLB.tv. 60 games is approximately 27% of 162. I’m no math expert, but I believe 27% of $120 is $32.40. I’m gonna file a grievance with MLB. The price should be a prorated amount of the number of games played.
60 games is 37% of 162
I expect to see many more meaningful games this September….. Worth it.
Crap. I told you I wasn’t a math expert. Revision: $44.40
Either way it’s more relative to the amount of games being played. I suggest streaming games.
Streaming games is now my preference.
I’m a compulsive multi-tasker so I love the portability of streaming.
I had a Sunday last September when I was on my “big” boat for early Canada geese (also did some trolling for
pike) & was watching the Yanks & the Jints at the same time (!) due to the miracle of streaming, man. My grandfather would have been amazed.
I’m pretty sure that’s how we’ll spend every Sunday in Heaven.
🙂
I just took a comprehensive look at the Rays and Marlins 2021 schedule…..ya know, both teams have a real chance to exceed their 2020 attendance numbers.
There is a fine line between hyperbole, exaggeration and satire. You nailed it.
The 67-year-old West said he doesn’t believe the death total being attributed to the coronavirus — which has surpassed 130,000 in the United States — is an accurate figure.
“Those statistics aren’t accurate, I don’t care who’s counting them,” West told USA Today Sports. “When country music [singer] Joe Diffie died, they said he died of the coronavirus. He had Stage 4 lung cancer. The coronavirus may have accelerated his death, but let’s be realistic.
“Our system is so messed up they have emptied hospitals because there’s no elective surgery. The government has been giving these hospitals extra money if someone dies of the coronavirus. So everybody that dies is because of coronavirus. I don’t care if you get hit by a car, it’s coronavirus.”
He has a point. Prostate Cancer advocates took credit for my father. Heart diseases took credit, Anti-Smoking groups took credit. Anti-Alcohol took credit.
He had heart disease, liver disease, emphysema and prostate cancer.
Four things killed my father, four groups took credit, but he only died once.
None of us gets out alive.
The simplest and most accurate way to assess the damage from this disease is to look at the normal death numbers prior to the virus and look at the new death numbers since the disease. No other cause of death has really changed much (except maybe traffic deaths are down). That’s what Belgium did and they were vilified for doing such a lousy job with the pandemic. But all the other countries were under counting. Recently, New Jersey corrected their numbers and now they have the highest per million death rate in the nation. Yes, we can quibble about someone with cancer dying and say they would have died anyway. But when? Next month? Next year? My father survived pancreatic cancer for 20 years. Generally speaking, life kills you. But when a previously nonexistent disease pops up and you die, that’s as much of the cause as anything. The numbers are actually low because if the virus did not happen, those people would not have died. Yet. And that’s the tough distinction. You’re right, more than one thing can kill us, and usually does. But when something new comes along, that becomes the tipping point.
I think your post is great, I think what Joe West said was great.
I don’t know who is right, but they are both thought provoking.
And I don’t know if we’ll ever get true answers due to the complexity of keeping track of the data, but that’s my field, so it’s “interesting” to me even though it’s truly sad.
Hes right, even the drs and medical examiner’s say the same thing.if youre dying from something else and catch the virus,they put that down
The only thing that really bothers me is calling someone who is in charge an idiot Unless of course it’s a GM or manager. Tony Reagan and Mike Scioscia were idiots. 🙂
As far as Clark and Manfred, we see so little of what they do.
I could do for less Clark Manfred whining and blaming. The fact is, we are clueless as to the complexities of their job.
I wonder if they are planning to pull the pin on 2020 so released next year’s schedule first to provide some hope of baseball. Hope not
This is an interesting idea. I hope not, too.
I’m seeing comments disappear on here, yet others stay that are saying the same “common words not allowed?”
Smoking Joe, didn’t you say in an earlier post that you don’t pay for your extra inning package?
When black outs started years and years ago the reason was to make people attend the game in person.
I thought I had heard that at some point (I’m not beyond doubting my own memory!), but the explanation I got above makes more sense to me in this day and age.
You are going to have to define years ago. When Peter Ueberroth was commissioner, I believe it was about local TV deals. Cable companies carried the product and they wanted you to go there to view the games.
I’m going to guess two potential dates that COVID-19 will come to an end.
November 2020. Or November 2024.