As Major League Baseball hopes to start with an abbreviated season in late July, there is no doubt that this will be known as a historic year where coronavirus dominated the headlines. Changes are now being made regarding the rules on the diamond, the regulations that teams must abide by, and the schedule. Here are five of those alterations.
1) Schedule. In the abbreviated 60 game schedule, teams will only play games within their zone. For example, teams from the American League East will play games within their own division, and play the teams in the National League East. The same goes for the teams inside the two Central divisions, and inside the two West divisions.
2) The universal designated hitter. For many years teams from the National League have complained they are at a disadvantage when they play the American League because they do not have the designated hitter, and the pitchers hit. That will now change, as all Major League Baseball games this season with have the DH.
3) Change of rules when games go to extra innings. When games go into extra innings for the regular season, each team will lead off the inning with a runner on second base. We have seen this rule implemented in international baseball to speed up games. However, once the postseason starts, teams will no longer have a runner on second base to lead off the inning. In addition to a having a runner on second base to lead off the extra inning, each pitcher must throw to a minimum of three batters during the game before being pulled from the contest.
4) Coronavirus Injury List. If a player tests positive for coronavirus, or are showing symptoms of the virus, they will be on a COVID-19 related injury list. Players are not expected to be on the list for a set number of days.
5) Change in roster size. Active rosters will be at 30 for the first two weeks, 28 for the third and fourth weeks, and then down to 26 players from the fifth week onward. Historically, teams have 25 players until September, and then the roster size increases to 40. In previous playoffs, teams have a roster size of 25. In 2020, the playoff roster size will increase to 26.
