Major League Baseball hopes to be the first significant U.S. sports league to play games after the shutdown. But last week an issue developed that could sideline MLB’s 2020 season. Check out an updated MLB Odds & News on where Major League Baseball stands in its quest to start the 2020 MLB Season on our Coronavirus (COVID-19) MLB Update.

MLB Update – June 6^th Edition

2020 Major League Baseball Season

• When: TBD
• Where: Various Venues

2020 World Series Futures

• New York Yankees +400
• Los Angeles Dodgers +325
• Houston Astros +1000
• Atlanta Braves +1800
• Louis Cardinals +2200
• Minnesota Twins +1800
• Washington Nationals +1800
• New York Mets +2000
• Philadelphia Phillies +3000
• A. Angels +2400
• Boston Red Sox +4500
• Cleveland Indians +2400
• Chicago Cubs +2200
• Tampa Bay Rays +2200
• Oakland Athletics +2500
• Cincinnati Reds +2500
• Milwaukee Brewers +4500
• Chicago White Sox +2400
• San Diego Padres +4000
• Arizona Diamondbacks +6000
• Texas Rangers +8000
• Toronto Blue Jays +8000
• Colorado Rockies +18000
• Pittsburgh Pirates +30000
• San Francisco Giants +15000
• Seattle Mariners +30000
• Baltimore Orioles +50000
• Detroit Tigers +50000
• Kansas City Royals +20000
• Miami Marlins +50000

MLB players testing positive for coronavirus

Major League Baseball hopes to play a game this month on July 23. The first scheduled game is between the New York Yankees and Washington Nationals. Unlike the NBA and NHL, though, MLB didn’t create a bubble situation. There aren’t hub cities for MLB games.

That’s why baseball’s coronavirus positives are more alarming than positives in both the NBA and NHL.

Major League Baseball has a lower positive coronavirus percentage than the NBA. The National Basketball Association announced a 5.38% positive test among players.

However, the NBA tested just 302 players. MLB tested 3,185 players. Their rate is 1.2%, which equates to 31 players.

The biggest issue? Training camps started for every Major League Baseball team last week. But, training camps started where those teams are located.

Arizona governor Doug Ducey shut down the state after a spike in cases. That could cause a major problem for the Diamondbacks and any team scheduled to play the D’Backs.

Players have started to voice their concerns. The best player in baseball, Mike Trout, said he’s not sure how confident he is with MLB’s plan to restart.

Dodgers pitcher David Price said he’s skipping the season. So did a couple of important Atlanta Braves players, Nick Markakis and Felix Hernandez. Both decided to sit out 2020 after teammate Freddie Freeman tested positive for Covid-19.

MLB return to play could face serious pitfalls

Like we alluded to earlier in this blog, there are some serious pitfalls with MLB’s return to play plan.

That’s what happens when you don’t create a real course of action and instead spend time arguing about money

The biggest pitfall is how to manage Covid-19 hotspots. It seems like MLB wants each team to determine how they will handle games individually. That may not be the wisest course.

In any case, MLB will start the 2020 season. So, let’s try to stay positive.