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Baseball Season to start on time

Ed Townsend - Columnist
Posted 2/15/21

Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred has informed teams that the season would start on time with a February 17 spring training report date and opening day on April 1.

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Baseball Season to start on time

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Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred has informed teams that the season would start on time with a February 17 spring training report date and opening day on April 1.

The commissioner's announcement was announced after the baseball players association rejected a proposal to delay the season's start.

President Biden's administration senior officials reportedly spoke with Major League Baseball representatives recently asking about a one-month delay to the start of the 2021 season while players got vaccinated for COVID-19.

Government administration officials told Major League Baseball they were confident in their ability to vaccinate players relatively quickly due to the expected introduction of the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Johnson & Johnson was expected to file for FDA approval of its vaccine within a week.

The Major League Baseball Players Association reportedly out of concern it would be pressured to agree to the delay, opted to schedule its own discussion with administration officials at a later date.

The 2021 season will represent Major League Baseball's second attempt at playing amid the coronavirus pandemic.

After a slew of rule changes were put in place and only 60 regular-season games were played last summer, this campaign will look a lot more like a typical season.

In this season there will be no universal DH in the National league, no seven-inning doubleheaders, no expanded playoffs, no adding a runner on second base in extra innings and no modified rules for suspending games.

The three batter minimum rule for relief pitchers, agreed upon before the pandemic hit, will remain in effect.

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