MLB Executives Increasingly Convinced 2020 Season Won't Start Before June

The coronavirus pandemic has essentially shut down the entire sports world. Major League Baseball opted to suspend the season, but initially allowed players to stay at their respective Spring Training facilities. That all changed once a minor league player for the New York Yankees tested positive for COVID-19, causing a majority of holdout teams to begin sending their players home.

With this news, there's expectation that the start of the 2020 season will be significantly delayed. According to MLB insider Jon Heyman, who spoke to several team executives, there's doubt that the campaign will start before the beginning of June.

As Heyman says in his tweet, the league initially hoped that they could resume activities by April 9. However, with the first confirmed case of the coronavirus in professional baseball, that date may as well be wiped away. There will no doubt be an increased amount of testing throughout MiLB and MLB camps to ensure that the virus hasn't spread.

As we've seen in the NBA, Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz tested positive last Wednesday, and in short order, teammate Donovan Mitchell and Detroit Piston Christian Wood were confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 as well. NBA commissioner Adam Silver said this past Thursday that the season will likely be suspended for at least 30 days, but that may end up being the most wishful kind of thinking.

Now, MLB has to brace with the fact that the regular season is almost certain not to commence until after Memorial Day. It's numbing news for fans looking forward to the big return of America's Pastime, but these are precautionary measures that must be taken to ensure the safety of everyone.