Report : Indians Telling Their Players Prepare for the MLB Season to Start July 1st

A number of start dates have been bantered about for the possible start to a shortened MLB season in 2020, but according to sources there seems to be momentum gaining for a season to begin in home ballparks on July 1st, with a spring training to start on June 10th.

It sounds more and more like baseball will exist in 2020, and that it is getting ready to begin on July 1st in a Major League park near you.

That’s the latest report from The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, who wrote Wednesday that Tribe officials had a zoom call with about 70 members of the club.

The call included telling players and club members to prepare for a shortened spring training, which would start on June 10th, with opening day being on July 1st.

The report piggybacks a tweet on Monday from former MLB outfielder Trevor Plouffe, who stated that the season would begin as well on July 1st.

Here’s what he said Monday afternoon.

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.

Former MLB pitcher Phil Hughes repeated the same dates in a tweet after Plouffe on Monday.

Ok, I’ve talked with multiple sources and can confirm a June 10th spring training 2 with a July 1 opening day proposal is expected to be on the table soon. Trevor Plouffe had it first. I had it 2nd. Someone else will have it 3

There’s been a number of proposals on the table about the season starting up again, and the idea of teams playing in their home stadiums with no fans seems to be gaining more and more momentum as well.

There also was a proposal of changing divisions around for this season, with there being three 10-team divisions, the East, Central and West.

Under that proposal written about in the USA Today, you would only play the other nine teams in your division, with a season at just over 100 games.