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Minor League baseball cancels 2020 season because of coronavirus pandemic

There will be no crack of the bat, no smell of hot dogs wafting through the stands. Hometown baseball stadiums will be quiet after Minor League Baseball president Pat O’Conner announced Tuesday that the 2020 schedule was canceled.

It was the first time the season had been canceled in the league’s 120-year history, CBS Sports reported.

Not only does the coronavirus loom over teams’ heads, so does the plan to cut minor league teams from 160 to 120, ESPN reported. The Professional Baseball Agreement expires in September and news of the cuts was leaked before the MLB’s winter meetings.

But the cancellation of the season isn’t just the decision of the minor league. The majors are coming back, but with a short season and instead of the normal pipeline between the minors and the majors, there will be a taxi squad made of prospects getting developmental work through practice, simulated games and workouts, ESPN reported. The majors were not standing up minor teams as is the norm.

CNN reported it is unclear whether the league will come back in 2021.

As for the MLB, the short season will start on either July 23 or 24, CNN reported.