Rules changes possible for 2020 restart

NEW YORK » Extra innings that start with runners on second base, games ending in ties and reentry are among the possibilities for a radically altered 2020 Major League Baseball season, one limited to a maximum 60 games by teams that claim they can’t afford more due to the coronavirus pandemic.

MLB included the controversial extra-inning runner rule in its proposal June 17 for a 60-game season, down from an initial 82, and also wants it for 2021. The players’ association accepted the rule June 18 for 2020 only in its counter-proposal for 70 games, down from an initial 114.

The union also said it wants to discuss allowing games to end in ties “after a certain number of innings” and “the relaxation of substitution rules in extra innings.”

Copies of both proposals were obtained by The Associated Press. Some aspects were first reported by USA Today. The runner on second rule has been used in the minor leagues for the last two seasons.

One big on-field change already has been agreed to by both sides if there is a deal: expansion of the designated hitter to games involving National League teams.

But a deal is far from certain.

MLB Deputy Commissioner Dan Halem told union chief negotiator Bruce Meyer on June 19 that teams will not make another proposal. Commissioner Rob Manfred has threatened an an even shorter schedule of perhaps 50 games or fewer.

The union’s executive board is likely to meet June 20.

Complicating any possible resumption, MLB shut all 30 training camps in Arizona and Florida for COVID-19 testing after Philadelphia said five players and three others tested positive. Toronto and San Francisco also reported either positive tests or symptoms that could indicate the disease.

While the NBA,NHL and MLS have found ways to restart their sports, baseball has been unable to cope with the economic dislocation caused by the new coronavirus and the prospect of playing in empty ballparks, reverting to the fractious labor strife that led to eight work stoppages from 197295. With time slipping away, the sport will have at best its shortest schedule since the dawn of professional baseball in the 1870s.

Players and MLB are increasingly dismayed with each other and appear headed to a spring training lockout in 2022. Manfred flew to Arizona and met with union head Tony Clark for five hours on June 16 in an effort to end the fighting and strike a deal. Manfred said the next day the sides had reached a framework for a 60-game regular season schedule and the full prorated pay that players had demanded, and the postseason would expand from 10 teams to 16 this year and either 14 or 16 in 2021.