Colorado Rockies: MLB officially moves Opening Day back, stills plans on 162 game season

Commissioner Rob Manfred held a conference call with a representative of all 30 MLB teams, including the Colorado Rockies, on an update for the start of the regular season.

Commissioner Rob Manfred announced on Monday that, in concordance with the CDC guidelines for not having events with more than 50 people in attendance for the next eight weeks, they will officially move back from the regular season starting on April 9.

“Following last night’s newly updated recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) restricting events of more than 50 people for the next eight weeks, the opening of the 2020 regular season will be pushed back in accordance with that guidance.”

He did not announce when the season would start due to the fluidity of the situation but he did announce some changes.

Manfred also spoke to reporters at the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals spring training facility in Jupiter, Florida, including the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and he said that camps will remain open to occasional informal workouts.

Also, players on 40-man rosters and non-roster invitees who were free agents after last season and finished the 2019 season on a 40-man roster or injured list will receive $1100 a week for living arrangements through April 9 for MLB. After that, the MLB team will likely take that over.

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Soon, the commissioner and the MLBPA will be discussing these issues (via Bob Nightengale of USA Today).

• Conditions for the resumption of play
• Amended scheduling
• Player salaries
• Major League service
• Contracts and transactions
• Core economics (revenue sharing, CBT, Debt Service Rule, etc.)
• Amateur signings (Rule 4 and International)
• Potential adjustments for collectively-bargained dates and deadlines.

Manfred said (according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in the tweet linked above) that he and the MLB owners are hoping to still have all 162 games this season but they aren’t sure how that will happen.

It was also announced that MLB and MLBPA will also be donating $1 million in food supplies, split between Feeding America and Meals on Wheels, to fight hunger as a result of schools closing and quarantines.

Stay tuned for more coverage as the situation develops in the ensuing days and weeks.