Will There Be A 2020 MLB Season? Baseball Will Return This Year, At Least According To Latest Odds

Will there be a 2020 MLB season? That’s the question baseball fans have been asking for months.

As the NBA and NHL work toward resuming seasons that were suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic, MLB’s owners and players can’t agree on how to get games started. Details regarding health protocols and a reduced schedule have to be worked out, but the main point of contention is player compensation.

The Major League Baseball Players Association doesn’t want to take any further pay cuts after agreeing to be paid a prorated version of their salaries on March 26. The owners want to drastically reduce salaries because of lost revenue that’s expected to result from empty-stadium games.

Mike Trout, the sport’s highest-paid player, would make fewer than $6 million in 2020 in the owners’ proposal. The MLBPA is advocating for Trout to make north of $19 million.

With that kind of a divide between team owners and the players’ union, there’s been increased pessimism that the entire season could be canceled.

The betting odds, however, reflect a much more optimistic view. Bovada sets the odds of there being a 2020 MLB season at -500. The sportsbook puts the odds of no baseball this year at +300.

The owners have reportedly advocated for an 82-game schedule. The union wants to play more than 100 games, according to ESPN, in exchange for a guarantee of full prorated salaries.

The league has been targeting June 10 as the tentative start date of spring training, which was halted on March 12. Opening Day would be scheduled for the first week of July, leaving the two sides with a short window to negotiate a deal.

No World Series champion was crowned in 1994 when a strike ended the MLB season for good on Aug. 11. A mid-season strike in 1981 shortened the regular season by about one-third.