When Is MLB Opening Day 2020? Coronavirus Pandemic Expected To Delay Baseball Season Until May

MLB suspended spring training Thursday because of the coronavirus pandemic, announcing that Opening Day would be delayed by at least two weeks. It’s very likely that the start of the 2020 season will be postponed much further.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported on “Get Up” Friday morning that baseball games aren’t expected to be played until at least May. That would mean delaying the start of the season by more than a month.

The season had been scheduled to start on March 26 with every team playing. Sept. 28 was supposed to be the final day of the regular season.

The playoffs are set to start on Oct. 1. Game 1 of the 2020 World Series is scheduled for Oct. 22 with a possible Game 7 to be played on Oct. 30.

It’s unclear if a 162-game schedule will still be played or if those postseason dates will change.

MLB last saw a major disruption to its schedule in 2001 after the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington D.C. The end of the regular season was pushed from Sept. 30 to Oct. 7. The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the New York Yankees in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series on Nov. 4,

Game 7 of last year’s World Series between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros was played on Oct. 30.

The decision to suspend baseball games came after a wave of sporting events were canceled. The NBA became the first major professional sports league in the United States to suspend its season. The league did so Wednesday night after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell also tested positive for the coronavirus. Mitchell’s dad, Donovan Mitchell Sr., is the New York Mets’ director of player relations and community engagement. The Mets announced that he would be tested for the coronavirus.

The 2020 NCAA Tournament was canceled shortly after MLB suspended operations.