THE 2020 SPORTS TIMELINE
JULY
JULY 8: MLS’ bubbled tournament in Orlando, Fla., begins with a flurry of positive COVID-19 cases. But from July 16 onward, the league reported no positive cases among those staying in the complex. The Portland Timbers won the tournament Aug. 11.
JULY 13: Washington’s NFL team announces name change. While groups have pushed for the team to change its nickname and logo for decades, owner Dan Snyder didn’t relent until sponsors like FedEx, Nike and Pepsi spoke out against the “Redskins” name.
JULY 22: Mookie Betts agrees to 12-year, $365-million extension, the second-richest contract in baseball and one that could keep the 28-year-old star in L.A. until his 39th birthday.
JULY 23: A shortened MLB season begins. About 40 games were postponed due to COVID-19 outbreaks among Miami and St. Louis and positive tests within Cincinnati Reds, New York Mets, Oakland and San Francisco.
JULY 24 | JULY 30: WNBA and NBA begin games in respective Florida bubbles. The WNBA starts its delayed season in Bradenton, Fla., at IMG Academy and the NBA follows one week later in Disney World in Orlando.
AUGUST
AUG. 4: WNBA players wear “Vote Warnock” T-shirts. Following criticism by Kelly Loeffler, a U.S. senator and co-owner of the Atlanta Dream, of the league’s involvement with Black Lives Matter, players wore T-shirts saying “Vote Warnock” to support Rev. Raphael Warnock during a Senate election. Warnock’s campaign reported more than $180,000 in donations in the 48 hours after the protest and the candidates are now in a runoff election.
AUG. 7: Eric Kay is arrested. The longtime member of the Angels’ media relations department was indicted on a charge of distributing fentanyl in connection with the overdose death of former Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs in 2019.
AUG. 9: La Cañada Flintridge’s Collin Morikawa, 23, wins PGA Championship. He is the fourth player to win a PGA Championship before turning 24, joining Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus.
AUG. 26: By sitting out of a playoff game three days after Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, was shot in the back by police, the Milwaukee Bucks unwittingly lead a second sports shutdown as the WNBA, NFL, MLB, NHL and MLS follow suit by postponing games or practices.
SEPTEMBER
SEPT. 5: Mike Trout hits the 300th home run of his career, passing former Angels star Tim Salmon for the most in franchise history. Salmon’s record of 299 stood for almost 14 years, but the current color commentator was happy to “pass the torch to somebody in the family — another fish,” he said during the broadcast.
SEPT. 12: After protesting the shooting of Jacob Blake in August, Naomi Osaka uses her U.S. Open title to continue the fight for social change by wearing the names of Black victims of police and vigilante violence on her masks before each match. Osaka defeats Victoria Azarenka in the final to win her second U.S. Open title.