MLB Returning in July is Still the Goal, But It's Far From a Sure Thing

There has been a number of rumors about Major League Baseball starting up with games in July, but after a couple of tweets and stories pointing in the right direction, MLB Insider Jon Heyman said Thursday that a lot of things have to still happen to get games on the field and more so to do it in a safe way for all involved.

It’s been a very up and down week for fans of Major League Baseball, and depending on who you are listening to, the league is getting either close to making it official it’s going to start in July, or it is just all speculation and nothing has been determined.

On the positive side for returning, the it started Monday when former outfielder Trevor Poluffe tweeted that a second spring training would start in June, with games starting on July 1.

Then to back that up came the story from The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, who said on Wednesday that the Cleveland Indians had a zoom call with 70 club members, telling them to prepare for getting back on the field in June with opening day being July 1.

With fan excitement at a fever pitch, it seemed like the latest round of tweets from MLB Insider Jon Heyman put a quick halt to the euphoria that was building towards another spring training and games starting in about eight weeks.

Heyman’s Thursday afternoon tweets didn’t dispute that Major League Baseball wants to get going again in July, but that it’s not a for sure by any means.

Heyman claimed started in July is “far from a certainty. Any early July date depends on data, health concerns and testing availability.”

One thing about Heyman tweets that backed up the latest rumors is that teams will be playing their home games in their home parks.

There is a chance that teams might even do their second spring training at their home parks, with instead of games against other teams they would just play intrasquad games.

Of course one thing that has not been approached but seems like a given is that games will be played in empty stadiums.

It seems like that baseball is closer to finally working through things, but there’s still plenty of things that have to go right to get back to playing and doing it safely for all involved.