ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Although manager Mike Shildt and some St. Louis Cardinals players were already in St. Louis and participating in small team practices at Busch Stadium – they're all coming back soon. That's because Major League Baseball Players' Association and league owners agreed to a deal on health and safety protocols Tuesday night, ensuring there will be a 60-game MLB regular season.
When the news broke, there was a lot of joy among Cardinals players. Here's what they said:
A post shared by Kolten Wong (@thewongone808) on Jun 23, 2020 at 8:22pm PDT
Spring training will begin July 3 while the season will begin July 24 and run until Sept. 27 and include 40 divisional games and 20 interleague games with their geographic counterpart.
Nightengale added that the deal includes all players the ability to opt out of the season and still be paid service time.
Other rules that have been improved include the implementation of a universal designated hitter as well as placing a runner on second base in extra innings in an attempt to expedite extra innings and avoid teams taxing their rosters in an abbreviated season.
The Philadelphia Phillies reported two more players tested positive for coronavirus on Tuesday following the eight members – five players, three staff – of the organization who tested positive over the weekend, which spurred MLB to shutdown its spring training facilities in Arizona and Florida.