Is baseball coming back?

First, the MLB players voted against accepting the owners’ proposal. Then the commissioner announced he would move forward with the 2020 season, unilaterally implementing conditions to start the season with spring training on July 1.

Aren’t you to the point where you’ll kind of believe it when you see it? I am.

So, the season will be 60 games, and I guess we should give a nod to the owners for not lowering the total closer to 50, which is what they really wanted. The schedule would have worked better with 66 games, but Lord how would they have afforded six more games to make things equal?

The playoffs will not be expanded. There will be a universal designated hitter.

The owners have asked the players for two things by Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. ET. First, can the players report to spring training by July 1? The second is whether the players will agree on the operating manual with the health and safety protocols necessary to complete the season.

Do not think this is over. Sure, it looks promising, but the health and safety concerns have escalated the last few days with the increasing number of positive cases around the sports world.

Maybe we will know Tuesday afternoon. Maybe then we can think that starting July 1, there will be Spring Training 2.0. Maybe. Just maybe.

But I’ll believe it when I see it.

Listen to The Bill Shanks Show weekdays at 3:00 p.m. ET on Middle Georgia’s ESPN. You can listen online at TheSuperStations.com. Follow Bill on Twitter at @billshanks and you can email him at thebillshanksshow@yahoo.com.