MLB outlines parameters for return to play

If the final pitch of the 2020 baseball season comes closer to Christmas than Halloween, that’s fine with the players.

Major League Baseball owners ratified a 17-page agreement with the union Friday in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, with players willing to extend the season as long as needed to cover as close to a full schedule as possible.

The deal provides for $170 million in salary advances and guarantees service time to players even if no games are played.

The season was to start Thursday and Game 7 of the World Series was on track to be Oct. 28. With opening day postponed until mid-May at the earliest, the final pitch could come deep into winter.

“We would play as long as we possibly could,” union head Tony Clark said Friday. “Obviously, weather becomes a factor.”

Neutral sites in warm-weather cities and domes are under consideration along with expanded playoffs.

More baseball

New York Mets right-hander Noah Syndergaard had successful Tommy John surgery. The Mets announced Tuesday that Syndergaard would need the surgery. He is expected to return sometime during the 2021 season.

Golf

The house of Hall of Fame golfer Davis Love III was destroyed by fire early Friday in a blaze that could not be controlled, even with 16 firefighters arriving within minutes, the fire chief said. No one from Love’s family was injured in the St. Simons Island, Ga., blaze.

Basketball

All Utah Jazz players and staff have been cleared by the Utah Department of Health after completing their respective periods of isolation and quarantine after exposure to the coronavirus, according to a team official.

Elsewhere

ESPN NBA analyst Doris Burke received a positive diagnosis for COVID-19 but says she now is symptom-free more than two weeks after her initial concerns of an illness.