Feb 17, 2019; West Palm Beach, FL, USA; MLB commissioner Rob Manfred addresses representatives from the grapefruit league during the annual spring training media day at Hilton in West Palm Beach. Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

MLB season to begin July 1 with 'spring training' in June?

By Zac Wassink | Last updated 5/4/20

On Monday afternoon, former MLB player Trevor Plouffe, now of Jomboy Media and the "Talkin' Baseball" podcast, set baseball Twitter ablaze with what fans hope to be some good news amid the coronavirus pandemic:

Want some good baseball news??

I just heard from multiple sources that on June 10th, Spring Training 2 will start. July 1st will be Opening Day and all teams will be playing at their home ballparks.

We’ll be discussing it in full on the next @TalkinBaseball_
— Trevor Plouffe (@trevorplouffe) May 4, 2020

Some current and former players were skeptical upon seeing Plouffe's tweet:

news to me
— Jack Flaherty (@Jack9Flaherty) May 4, 2020

I made that up
— Phil Hughes (@PJHughes45) May 4, 2020

This aligns with an earlier report from USA Today's Bob Nightengale that claimed MLB was prepping for a campaign that included at least 100 regular-season games, teams playing inside home ballparks, and clubs shifted to three geographically-based 10-team divisions.

Per Nightengale's story, the league hoped to begin play between the middle of June and July 2.

Neither the MLB nor MLB Players Association had announced an agreement for the season as of Monday evening.

While it seems likely games would be played behind closed doors and without fans in attendance, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis suggested people may be allowed to attend live events in the state as early as the summer when speaking with reporters last week.

Earlier on Monday, the NFL's Miami Dolphins announced plans for how fans could attend games starting in September.

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