NEW YORK. – Major League Baseball training camps reopened on Wednesday, marking a critical step toward bringing back America’s pastime amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
MLB and its players’ association agreed to a shortened, 60-game 2020 campaign last week with no fans in attendance and each team’s first game on July 23 or July 24, after weeks of negotiations cast doubt on whether the season would open at all.
Wednesday marks the league’s “mandatory reporting date,” though players and staff must go through testing prior to entering team facilities. The first workouts and “full baseball activities” begin on Friday.
Dubbed “Summer Camp,” the workouts pick up where spring training left off in March, when the COVID-19 outbreak put the season on indefinite hold and players were allowed to leave training sites in Arizona and Florida.
Some of those facilities were closed earlier this month, including the Philadelphia Phillies’ Clearwater, Florida, center, after players and staff tested positive for the new coronavirus. — Reuters