{"id":139508,"date":"2020-06-23T00:37:25","date_gmt":"2020-06-23T07:37:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=139508"},"modified":"2020-06-23T10:36:46","modified_gmt":"2020-06-23T17:36:46","slug":"mlb-announces-plan-to-start-shortened-2020-season-next-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mlb-announces-plan-to-start-shortened-2020-season-next-month\/","title":{"rendered":"MLB Announces Plan to Start Shortened 2020 Season Next Month"},"content":{"rendered":"

PLAY BALL! We think. Maybe.<\/p>\n

\"MLB
The last time there was MLB action, the Washington Nationals were celebrating their 2019 World Series championship. MLB officials announced Monday a plan to start a shortened 2020 season in about a month. (Image: David J. Phillip\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MLB announced Monday night they plan to unilaterally announce a start date and length of the 2020 season. While ESPN<\/em> reports the season will last 60 games<\/a> \u2013 or slightly longer than a third of a typical 162-game season \u2013 the actual length will be contingent on whether the MLB Players Association agrees to report to training camp by July 1 and if the union agrees to the COVID-19 health and safety protocols.<\/p>\n

The owners have asked the players to respond by 5 p.m. Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s announcement is the latest chapter in what\u2019s become a bitter relationship between the owners and players<\/a> in the oldest major league sport in the US.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the day, players rejected owners\u2019 plans for a 60-game schedule that, among other things, also would have made the designated hitter universal for the 2020 and 2021 seasons, as well as expanding the playoffs for the 2020 season.<\/p>\n

Aside from a 60-game schedule, those other changes appear to be off the table now. The universal DH will be in place for 2020 only as part of the COVID-19 health and safety protocols.<\/p>\n

\u201cNeedless to say, we are disappointed by this development,\u201d MLB stated in its release.<\/p>\n

The framework provided an opportunity for MLB and its players to work together to confront the difficulties and challenges presented by the pandemic. It gave our fans the chance to see an exciting new postseason format.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If players can return to training by July 1, the season would likely begin in late July. League officials and owners have been adamant about ending the regular season in September in order to conduct the playoffs in October.<\/p>\n

Short Season May Affect Betting Opportunities<\/h2>\n

A 60-game schedule will make for an intriguing but short campaign during the dog days of summer \u2013 provided the coronavirus still doesn\u2019t kill off the entire season. In the last week, there have been reports of players testing positive<\/a>, leading to MLB shutting down the training camps for cleaning.<\/p>\n

Baseball has probably the most parity of the four major league sports. In a three-game matchup between the league\u2019s best and worst teams, the worst team could still win 2-of-3 games in a series, depending on pitching and other factors. That\u2019s why the season is so long, so the best teams can eventually stand out over time.<\/p>\n

In a 60-game season, every game will become a must-win, because teams will not have enough time to rally from a disastrous start. The Washington Nationals, last year\u2019s World Series champions, won just 19 of their first 50 games before making their marvelous comeback.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Because of that, it may be worth a look at teams with higher World Series odds that may be likely to start hot. Such teams would include the Cincinnati Reds, who are +2800 at FanDuel and look to have one of the deepest starting rotations in the National League, and the Chicago White Sox, who are +3300 at FanDuel and have a very strong lineup in a winnable American League Central division.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Another thing to consider from a game-betting standpoint: with the DH now also in effect in the National League this year, that should lead to more runs scored per game, which in turn will affect over\/unders on runs scored. It may take some sportsbooks a few games to adjust to this, especially as some NL teams identify who may get the bulk of the DH at-bats. That means sharp bettors may be able to find values early in the season.<\/p>\n

Dodgers, Yankees World Series Favorites<\/h2>\n

Currently, at FanDuel, the Los Angeles Dodgers are considered the favorites to win the World Series, with odds at +380. The New York Yankees, who made a big off-season move in signing pitching ace Gerrit Cole<\/a> from the Houston Astros, are next at +400.<\/p>\n

DraftKings has similar odds, with LA at +375 and the Yanks at +400. Points Bet offers the Dodgers at +300 and New York at +375.<\/p>\n

BetMGM, meanwhile, lists the Yankees as its favorite at +350, with Los Angeles at +375.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PLAY BALL! We think. Maybe. MLB announced Monday night they plan to unilaterally announce a start date and length of the 2020 season. While ESPN reports the season will last 60 games \u2013 or slightly longer than a third of a typical 162-game season \u2013 the actual length will be contingent on whether the MLB […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":139509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMLB Announces Plan to Start Shortened 2020 Season Next Month<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Major League Baseball announced on Monday it will look to start the 2020 regular season next month, likely playing a 60-game regular season.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mlb-announces-plan-to-start-shortened-2020-season-next-month\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MLB Announces Plan to Start Shortened 2020 Season Next Month\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Major League Baseball announced on Monday it will look to start the 2020 regular season next month, likely playing a 60-game regular season.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mlb-announces-plan-to-start-shortened-2020-season-next-month\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-06-23T07:37:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-06-23T17:36:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/nationalstogether_newsletter-900x675-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mlb-announces-plan-to-start-shortened-2020-season-next-month\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mlb-announces-plan-to-start-shortened-2020-season-next-month\/\",\"name\":\"MLB Announces Plan to Start Shortened 2020 Season Next Month\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mlb-announces-plan-to-start-shortened-2020-season-next-month\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mlb-announces-plan-to-start-shortened-2020-season-next-month\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/nationalstogether_newsletter-900x675-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-06-23T07:37:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-06-23T17:36:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2\"},\"description\":\"Major League Baseball announced on Monday it will look to start the 2020 regular season next month, likely playing a 60-game regular season.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mlb-announces-plan-to-start-shortened-2020-season-next-month\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mlb-announces-plan-to-start-shortened-2020-season-next-month\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mlb-announces-plan-to-start-shortened-2020-season-next-month\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/nationalstogether_newsletter-900x675-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/nationalstogether_newsletter-900x675-1.jpg\",\"width\":900,\"height\":675,\"caption\":\"The last time there was MLB action, the Washington Nationals were celebrating their 2019 World Series championship. MLB officials announced Monday a plan to start play in about a month. (Image: David J. Phillip\/AP)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mlb-announces-plan-to-start-shortened-2020-season-next-month\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sports Betting\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Sports\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/sports\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"MLB Announces Plan to Start Shortened 2020 Season Next Month\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2\",\"name\":\"Steve Bittenbender\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Steve Bittenbender\"},\"description\":\"Steve Bittenbender covers Midwest and Gulport news for Casino.org. He also specializes in sports betting and horse racing. Steve is a veteran reporter and brings more than two decades of experience covering sports, business and politics. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Steve has also covered major collegiate and professional sports for the Associated Press and the Louisville Courier-Journal and is frequently featured on local network TV newscasts and podcasts for his horse racing business and legislative expertise. A Reuters contributor, he has also previously served as editor for Government Security News. Steve lives in Louisville, Kentucky -- the epicenter of the US horse racing industry -- with his wife and son. He is also an avid poker player, having learned from his uncle as a wholesome after-school pastime with cookies and milk. Contact Steve at stevebittenbender@casino.org.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/steve-bittenbender\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"MLB Announces Plan to Start Shortened 2020 Season Next Month","description":"Major League Baseball announced on Monday it will look to start the 2020 regular season next month, likely playing a 60-game regular season.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mlb-announces-plan-to-start-shortened-2020-season-next-month\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"MLB Announces Plan to Start Shortened 2020 Season Next Month","og_description":"Major League Baseball announced on Monday it will look to start the 2020 regular season next month, likely playing a 60-game regular season.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mlb-announces-plan-to-start-shortened-2020-season-next-month\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2020-06-23T07:37:25+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-06-23T17:36:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":675,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/nationalstogether_newsletter-900x675-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Steve Bittenbender","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Casino_Org","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Steve Bittenbender","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mlb-announces-plan-to-start-shortened-2020-season-next-month\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mlb-announces-plan-to-start-shortened-2020-season-next-month\/","name":"MLB Announces Plan to Start Shortened 2020 Season Next Month","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mlb-announces-plan-to-start-shortened-2020-season-next-month\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mlb-announces-plan-to-start-shortened-2020-season-next-month\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/nationalstogether_newsletter-900x675-1.jpg","datePublished":"2020-06-23T07:37:25+00:00","dateModified":"2020-06-23T17:36:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2"},"description":"Major League Baseball announced on Monday it will look to start the 2020 regular season next month, likely playing a 60-game regular season.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mlb-announces-plan-to-start-shortened-2020-season-next-month\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mlb-announces-plan-to-start-shortened-2020-season-next-month\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mlb-announces-plan-to-start-shortened-2020-season-next-month\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/nationalstogether_newsletter-900x675-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/nationalstogether_newsletter-900x675-1.jpg","width":900,"height":675,"caption":"The last time there was MLB action, the Washington Nationals were celebrating their 2019 World Series championship. MLB officials announced Monday a plan to start play in about a month. (Image: David J. Phillip\/AP)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mlb-announces-plan-to-start-shortened-2020-season-next-month\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sports Betting","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Sports","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/sports\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"MLB Announces Plan to Start Shortened 2020 Season Next Month"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2","name":"Steve Bittenbender","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png","caption":"Steve Bittenbender"},"description":"Steve Bittenbender covers Midwest and Gulport news for Casino.org. He also specializes in sports betting and horse racing. Steve is a veteran reporter and brings more than two decades of experience covering sports, business and politics. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Steve has also covered major collegiate and professional sports for the Associated Press and the Louisville Courier-Journal and is frequently featured on local network TV newscasts and podcasts for his horse racing business and legislative expertise. A Reuters contributor, he has also previously served as editor for Government Security News. Steve lives in Louisville, Kentucky -- the epicenter of the US horse racing industry -- with his wife and son. He is also an avid poker player, having learned from his uncle as a wholesome after-school pastime with cookies and milk. Contact Steve at stevebittenbender@casino.org.","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/steve-bittenbender\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139508"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}