The Major League Baseball organization, after offering a proposal to the league’s Players Union which would have delayed the start of the season by a few weeks, has decided that they will instead start on time.

The MLB initially offered a 154-game schedule which would have started in late April, along with changes including a universal designated hitter and the playoffs expanding from 10 to 14 teams.

However, the Players Association decided not to accept these changes due in large part to the fact that pitchers have already begun “ramping up” in preparations for the season, and also what they perceived to be enhanced powers for Commissioner Rob Manfred.

Despite the potential benefits of delaying the season, including potentially lower COVID-19 case rates and wider vaccine distribution, which would have made outbreaks less likely, the players simply decided that the offer wasn’t up to par.

“We do not make this decision lightly. Players know first-hand the efforts that were required to complete the abbreviated 2020 season, and we appreciate that significant challenges lie ahead,” said the MLBPA in a statement.

They later concluded: “We look forward to promptly finalizing enhanced health and safety protocols that will help players and clubs meet these challenges.”

Expect players to begin reporting to Arizona and Florida for Spring Training just a few weeks from now.

The post MLB to Start Season On Time After Union Talks appeared first on SportzBonanza.

After spending seven seasons in the United States as a fixture in the New York Yankees’ pitching rotation, right-handed starter Masahiro Tanaka has agreed to a deal with the Rakuten Golden Eagles which will send him back home.

Tanaka became a free agent this off-season after his seven-year $155 million deal with the Yankees expired. This was the largest contract ever given to a foreign player, and the veteran right-hander was thought to be a target for many MLB teams. But instead, he decided to follow his heart back to his native land.

The Golden Eagles are the team with which Tanaka became a star, as he became their best pitcher during his tenure with the team from 2007 to 2013.

Tanaka was the Pacific League MVP in his final season with the Golden Eagles and a six-time NPB All-Star for the team, which he helped lead to the Japan Series Championship in 2013.

He will return to his club as a hero and as the ace of its pitching staff after his 7 years in America ended with a 78-46 record, a 3.74 ERA, and a reputation as one of the most reliable righty starters in the game.

Tanaka will begin the new season with the Golden Eagles this summer.

The post Former Yankees SP Masahiro Tanaka to Return to Japan appeared first on SportzBonanza.

In yet another twist to the upcoming MLB Postseason in an atypical season, this year, teams’ seeding in the playoffs will be more important than ever after the league agreed to make seeds the base for home-field advantage.

The agreement with the MLB Players’ Association, which includes an eight-team playoff for the first time in the league’s history, also stipulates that in any given matchup between teams, from the first round of the playoffs to the World Series, the team with the higher seed will bat last in a game.

As matchups throughout the playoffs could include a wild card team with a better record than a division qualifying team in the National League and American League stages, this could be important even before the World Series.

However, the World Series, which is set to be played at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas, will be the main part of the playoffs where this change will play a role.

Since the All-Star Game provision was changed prior to the 2017 season, the team with the better record had home-field advantage in the World Series.

Now, though, if the #4 seed team in the NL has a better record than the #3 seed in the AL and the two teams meet in the Fall Classic, the American League team would play as the home team in Games 1, 2, 6, and 7.

This new provision adds a new foreign twist to what should be an interesting October for baseball fans.

The post Seeding to Determine Home-Field Advantage in MLB Playoffs appeared first on SportzBonanza.

With the MLB trade deadline just around the corner, some of the league’s top teams are beginning to show their cards when it comes to their needs and wants before the playoffs start up.

For the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves, reports are that the team is desperate to acquire starting pitching before Monday’s trade deadline comes.

The Braves, who maintain a slim lead over the Miami Marlins and the rest of their division counterparts, have succeeded despite one of the worst starting rotations in the league this season.

After losing star starter Mike Soroka to a torn Achilles tendon and with veteran stalwarts Felix Hernandez and Cole Hamels out, the Braves have struggled to get quality starts from anyone outside of #2 starter Max Fried this season.

Atlanta has limped to a 5.37 starters’ ERA this season, the fifth-worst mark in the league.

Starting pitchers which could reportedly be on the market include the Cleveland Indians’ Mike Clevinger, the San Francisco Giants’ Johnny Cueto and Kevin Gasuman, and the Texas Rangers’ Lance Lynn. With a strong farm system, Atlanta could well swing a deal for at least one arm to help strengthen their rotation come October.

The trade deadline is set for Monday, August 31st at 4 pm Eastern.

The post Atlanta Braves Reportedly in the Trade Market for Starting Pitchers appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Albert Pujols tied Alex Rodriguez with his 2,086th career run batted in during his team’s Wednesday night loss to the San Francisco Giants, tying him for second place on the all-time RBI list in MLB history.

Pujols hit an RBI single in the 6th inning off of Giants pitcher Andrew Suarez, which drove in teammate Anthony Rendon and moved him into a deadlock with Rodriguez.

The run batted in was ultimately wasted by the Angels, who dropped a 7-2 and saw their record fall to a putrid 8-17 mark.

“The Machine,” who has been one of the league’s most-feared hitters for his nearly two-decade-long career, now only trails all-time home run king Hank Aaron for 1st place in the record books. With one year left on the 10-year, $240 million contract that Pujols before the 2012 season, it appears unlikely that he will reach the Braves legend before the end of his career.

Pujols has been hampered by leg injuries and declining production over the past few years, as he has been a below-average hitter and player since 2017.

The Dominican slugger is batting only .209 with 3 home runs so far this season.

Next on the record watch list for Pujols is his next home run, which will be the 660th of his distinguished career and will tie him with Willie Mays for 5th on the all-time list.

The post Albert Pujols Moves into 2nd Place on All-Time MLB RBI List appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Just a few days into the late start of the 2020 MLB season, the Miami Marlins revealed that their team had multiple players test positive for the COVID-19 virus.

On Monday, after those figures ballooned to over 15 players and staff members, the team’s Monday game against the Baltimore Orioles was postponed.

Just a day later, Major League Baseball made the decision to postpone all of the team’s games through Sunday in order to prevent the spread of the disease and allow players and coaches to recover.

The Marlins, who opened their season with a weekend series in Philadelphia, got word of the first positive tests on Saturday and then learned later that the virus had spread throughout their team.

The league had no option but to suspend the team’s travel, activity, and games in order to protect other teams and players, despite the vast majority of players being asymptomatic.

The league has yet to announce how it plans to make up the Marlins’ games in the future, but this development is certain to cause a logistical nightmare for the league, which opted not to go with a “bubble” approach.

Expect the league to provide another update on the situation later this week.

The post MLB Suspends Marlins’ Season Until Sunday Due to COVID-19 Outbreak appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The Toronto Blue Jays received word on Saturday that the Canadian government had denied their request to play the 2020 MLB season at home at the Rogers Centre, meaning that they will need to find another place to play their games this year.

The Jays’ players and staff had been granted an exception to reunite in Toronto in early July to train after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the postponement of this year’s baseball season until late July.

A Canadian government ban on Americans entering the country due to the high level of infections in their southern neighbors meant that they would have to give the league’s teams special permission to cross the border and play home games against the Jays.

The Canadian government, however, decided that this exception would not be in the best interest of the safety of their country’s people, meaning that the Jays have no other option but to play elsewhere at a location in the United States.

There are two main possibilities, the Jays’ triple-A ballpark in Buffalo, New York and their Spring Training facility in Dunedin, Florida.

While no decision has yet been made, the Jays will have to scramble to decide where they will play this season before their scheduled home opener on July 29th against the Washington Nationals.

The post Blue Jays Denied Permission to Play Home Games in Canada in 2020 appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Minnesota Twins outfielder Byron Buxton was carted off of the field during an intrasquad simulated game on Monday after collapsing to the ground while chasing a fly ball.

Buxton, whose brief career has already been interrupted by injuries multiple times, appeared to have gotten his cleat stuck into the grass while reaching to make the catch off of a Nelson Cruz fly ball.

He underwent tests and diagnostic evaluations after being carted off the field, but the initial word from the club’s manager indicates that the team may have dodged a bullet.

Manager Rocco Baldelli said that tests revealed that Buxton had not suffered any major structural damage after an MRI and x-rays. However, considering the amount of pain which he was in, it is possible that he suffered some type of sprain.

Buxton, who is considered to be one of the fastest players in the game and a top-tier defensive outfielder, had a breakout season at the plate in 2019. He batted .262 with 10 home runs and 46 RBI in only 89 games played. He did, however, miss almost half of his team’s games due to shoulder, head, and wrist injuries.

The Twins did not provide any initial word as to how much time Buxton will miss, but his status for Opening Day on July 24th does seem to be in question.

The post Twins’ Byron Buxton Suffers Foot Injury in Simulated Game appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Given the current COVID-19 situation in Mexico, the 16 teams of the Mexican Baseball League made the difficult decision on Wednesday to cancel the 2020 season.

“The 16 teams of the circuit, together with the Mexican Baseball League, have made the difficult decision to not play the 2020 season. We will take advantage of the situation to return even stronger for 2021,” said the league in an official statement.

The LMB, which was established in 1925 and was set to celebrate its 95th anniversary season this year, simply could not put together a viable plan to play the season.

Mexico is one of the countries which is currently being worst affected by the coronavirus pandemic, with new cases continuing to rise rapidly.

The league, which was won by the Acereros de Monclova last season, is considered to be one of the top leagues in the world behind the MLB, along with South Korea’s KBO and Japan’s NPB.

The league, which would have begun in early August after being postponed from its original late March start date, would have seen massive financial losses along with the possibility of putting both fans and players in danger had it played this year.

So, the LMB will look to 2021 and hope that the situation has improved sufficiently in order to allow next season to go on without a hitch.

The post Mexican Baseball League Cancels 2020 Season appeared first on SportzBonanza.

After a long process of failed negotiations, rows between owners and players, and rejected proposals between the league and its union, Major League Baseball announced on Monday night that it is going to unilaterally implement a plan for baseball to return in July.

After the players rejected the league’s final proposal over the weekend, it asked commissioner Rob Manfred to unilaterally implement a plan for the regular season and playoffs per a March agreement that allowed this sort of move as a last resort.

Manfred’s decision was then to proceed with the season per his own terms, including a 60-game regular season and a playoff format which would be unchanged, involving ten teams.

Players are set to receive full pro-rated compensation for these 60 games along with the playoffs, and the theoretical Opening Day is set to be on July 24th.

In order for the plan to be put in motion and become “official,” the MLBPA will be asked to confirm to the league that it will be able to have its players report to MLB stadiums by July 1st in order to begin a training period. In addition, it will be asked to comply with and agree to a set of safety protocols.

These final two details are widely expected to be accepted by the union, which means that the baseball season could finally be set to take place after months of drama and uncertainty.

The post MLB Set to Begin a 60-Game Season on July 24th appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The Major League Baseball organization, after offering a proposal to the league’s Players Union which would have delayed the start of the season by a few weeks, has decided that they will instead start on time.

The MLB initially offered a 154-game schedule which would have started in late April, along with changes including a universal designated hitter and the playoffs expanding from 10 to 14 teams.

However, the Players Association decided not to accept these changes due in large part to the fact that pitchers have already begun “ramping up” in preparations for the season, and also what they perceived to be enhanced powers for Commissioner Rob Manfred.

Despite the potential benefits of delaying the season, including potentially lower COVID-19 case rates and wider vaccine distribution, which would have made outbreaks less likely, the players simply decided that the offer wasn’t up to par.

“We do not make this decision lightly. Players know first-hand the efforts that were required to complete the abbreviated 2020 season, and we appreciate that significant challenges lie ahead,” said the MLBPA in a statement.

They later concluded: “We look forward to promptly finalizing enhanced health and safety protocols that will help players and clubs meet these challenges.”

Expect players to begin reporting to Arizona and Florida for Spring Training just a few weeks from now.

The post MLB to Start Season On Time After Union Talks appeared first on SportzBonanza.

After spending seven seasons in the United States as a fixture in the New York Yankees’ pitching rotation, right-handed starter Masahiro Tanaka has agreed to a deal with the Rakuten Golden Eagles which will send him back home.

Tanaka became a free agent this off-season after his seven-year $155 million deal with the Yankees expired. This was the largest contract ever given to a foreign player, and the veteran right-hander was thought to be a target for many MLB teams. But instead, he decided to follow his heart back to his native land.

The Golden Eagles are the team with which Tanaka became a star, as he became their best pitcher during his tenure with the team from 2007 to 2013.

Tanaka was the Pacific League MVP in his final season with the Golden Eagles and a six-time NPB All-Star for the team, which he helped lead to the Japan Series Championship in 2013.

He will return to his club as a hero and as the ace of its pitching staff after his 7 years in America ended with a 78-46 record, a 3.74 ERA, and a reputation as one of the most reliable righty starters in the game.

Tanaka will begin the new season with the Golden Eagles this summer.

The post Former Yankees SP Masahiro Tanaka to Return to Japan appeared first on SportzBonanza.

In yet another twist to the upcoming MLB Postseason in an atypical season, this year, teams’ seeding in the playoffs will be more important than ever after the league agreed to make seeds the base for home-field advantage.

The agreement with the MLB Players’ Association, which includes an eight-team playoff for the first time in the league’s history, also stipulates that in any given matchup between teams, from the first round of the playoffs to the World Series, the team with the higher seed will bat last in a game.

As matchups throughout the playoffs could include a wild card team with a better record than a division qualifying team in the National League and American League stages, this could be important even before the World Series.

However, the World Series, which is set to be played at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas, will be the main part of the playoffs where this change will play a role.

Since the All-Star Game provision was changed prior to the 2017 season, the team with the better record had home-field advantage in the World Series.

Now, though, if the #4 seed team in the NL has a better record than the #3 seed in the AL and the two teams meet in the Fall Classic, the American League team would play as the home team in Games 1, 2, 6, and 7.

This new provision adds a new foreign twist to what should be an interesting October for baseball fans.

The post Seeding to Determine Home-Field Advantage in MLB Playoffs appeared first on SportzBonanza.

With the MLB trade deadline just around the corner, some of the league’s top teams are beginning to show their cards when it comes to their needs and wants before the playoffs start up.

For the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves, reports are that the team is desperate to acquire starting pitching before Monday’s trade deadline comes.

The Braves, who maintain a slim lead over the Miami Marlins and the rest of their division counterparts, have succeeded despite one of the worst starting rotations in the league this season.

After losing star starter Mike Soroka to a torn Achilles tendon and with veteran stalwarts Felix Hernandez and Cole Hamels out, the Braves have struggled to get quality starts from anyone outside of #2 starter Max Fried this season.

Atlanta has limped to a 5.37 starters’ ERA this season, the fifth-worst mark in the league.

Starting pitchers which could reportedly be on the market include the Cleveland Indians’ Mike Clevinger, the San Francisco Giants’ Johnny Cueto and Kevin Gasuman, and the Texas Rangers’ Lance Lynn. With a strong farm system, Atlanta could well swing a deal for at least one arm to help strengthen their rotation come October.

The trade deadline is set for Monday, August 31st at 4 pm Eastern.

The post Atlanta Braves Reportedly in the Trade Market for Starting Pitchers appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Albert Pujols tied Alex Rodriguez with his 2,086th career run batted in during his team’s Wednesday night loss to the San Francisco Giants, tying him for second place on the all-time RBI list in MLB history.

Pujols hit an RBI single in the 6th inning off of Giants pitcher Andrew Suarez, which drove in teammate Anthony Rendon and moved him into a deadlock with Rodriguez.

The run batted in was ultimately wasted by the Angels, who dropped a 7-2 and saw their record fall to a putrid 8-17 mark.

“The Machine,” who has been one of the league’s most-feared hitters for his nearly two-decade-long career, now only trails all-time home run king Hank Aaron for 1st place in the record books. With one year left on the 10-year, $240 million contract that Pujols before the 2012 season, it appears unlikely that he will reach the Braves legend before the end of his career.

Pujols has been hampered by leg injuries and declining production over the past few years, as he has been a below-average hitter and player since 2017.

The Dominican slugger is batting only .209 with 3 home runs so far this season.

Next on the record watch list for Pujols is his next home run, which will be the 660th of his distinguished career and will tie him with Willie Mays for 5th on the all-time list.

The post Albert Pujols Moves into 2nd Place on All-Time MLB RBI List appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Just a few days into the late start of the 2020 MLB season, the Miami Marlins revealed that their team had multiple players test positive for the COVID-19 virus.

On Monday, after those figures ballooned to over 15 players and staff members, the team’s Monday game against the Baltimore Orioles was postponed.

Just a day later, Major League Baseball made the decision to postpone all of the team’s games through Sunday in order to prevent the spread of the disease and allow players and coaches to recover.

The Marlins, who opened their season with a weekend series in Philadelphia, got word of the first positive tests on Saturday and then learned later that the virus had spread throughout their team.

The league had no option but to suspend the team’s travel, activity, and games in order to protect other teams and players, despite the vast majority of players being asymptomatic.

The league has yet to announce how it plans to make up the Marlins’ games in the future, but this development is certain to cause a logistical nightmare for the league, which opted not to go with a “bubble” approach.

Expect the league to provide another update on the situation later this week.

The post MLB Suspends Marlins’ Season Until Sunday Due to COVID-19 Outbreak appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The Toronto Blue Jays received word on Saturday that the Canadian government had denied their request to play the 2020 MLB season at home at the Rogers Centre, meaning that they will need to find another place to play their games this year.

The Jays’ players and staff had been granted an exception to reunite in Toronto in early July to train after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the postponement of this year’s baseball season until late July.

A Canadian government ban on Americans entering the country due to the high level of infections in their southern neighbors meant that they would have to give the league’s teams special permission to cross the border and play home games against the Jays.

The Canadian government, however, decided that this exception would not be in the best interest of the safety of their country’s people, meaning that the Jays have no other option but to play elsewhere at a location in the United States.

There are two main possibilities, the Jays’ triple-A ballpark in Buffalo, New York and their Spring Training facility in Dunedin, Florida.

While no decision has yet been made, the Jays will have to scramble to decide where they will play this season before their scheduled home opener on July 29th against the Washington Nationals.

The post Blue Jays Denied Permission to Play Home Games in Canada in 2020 appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Minnesota Twins outfielder Byron Buxton was carted off of the field during an intrasquad simulated game on Monday after collapsing to the ground while chasing a fly ball.

Buxton, whose brief career has already been interrupted by injuries multiple times, appeared to have gotten his cleat stuck into the grass while reaching to make the catch off of a Nelson Cruz fly ball.

He underwent tests and diagnostic evaluations after being carted off the field, but the initial word from the club’s manager indicates that the team may have dodged a bullet.

Manager Rocco Baldelli said that tests revealed that Buxton had not suffered any major structural damage after an MRI and x-rays. However, considering the amount of pain which he was in, it is possible that he suffered some type of sprain.

Buxton, who is considered to be one of the fastest players in the game and a top-tier defensive outfielder, had a breakout season at the plate in 2019. He batted .262 with 10 home runs and 46 RBI in only 89 games played. He did, however, miss almost half of his team’s games due to shoulder, head, and wrist injuries.

The Twins did not provide any initial word as to how much time Buxton will miss, but his status for Opening Day on July 24th does seem to be in question.

The post Twins’ Byron Buxton Suffers Foot Injury in Simulated Game appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Given the current COVID-19 situation in Mexico, the 16 teams of the Mexican Baseball League made the difficult decision on Wednesday to cancel the 2020 season.

“The 16 teams of the circuit, together with the Mexican Baseball League, have made the difficult decision to not play the 2020 season. We will take advantage of the situation to return even stronger for 2021,” said the league in an official statement.

The LMB, which was established in 1925 and was set to celebrate its 95th anniversary season this year, simply could not put together a viable plan to play the season.

Mexico is one of the countries which is currently being worst affected by the coronavirus pandemic, with new cases continuing to rise rapidly.

The league, which was won by the Acereros de Monclova last season, is considered to be one of the top leagues in the world behind the MLB, along with South Korea’s KBO and Japan’s NPB.

The league, which would have begun in early August after being postponed from its original late March start date, would have seen massive financial losses along with the possibility of putting both fans and players in danger had it played this year.

So, the LMB will look to 2021 and hope that the situation has improved sufficiently in order to allow next season to go on without a hitch.

The post Mexican Baseball League Cancels 2020 Season appeared first on SportzBonanza.

After a long process of failed negotiations, rows between owners and players, and rejected proposals between the league and its union, Major League Baseball announced on Monday night that it is going to unilaterally implement a plan for baseball to return in July.

After the players rejected the league’s final proposal over the weekend, it asked commissioner Rob Manfred to unilaterally implement a plan for the regular season and playoffs per a March agreement that allowed this sort of move as a last resort.

Manfred’s decision was then to proceed with the season per his own terms, including a 60-game regular season and a playoff format which would be unchanged, involving ten teams.

Players are set to receive full pro-rated compensation for these 60 games along with the playoffs, and the theoretical Opening Day is set to be on July 24th.

In order for the plan to be put in motion and become “official,” the MLBPA will be asked to confirm to the league that it will be able to have its players report to MLB stadiums by July 1st in order to begin a training period. In addition, it will be asked to comply with and agree to a set of safety protocols.

These final two details are widely expected to be accepted by the union, which means that the baseball season could finally be set to take place after months of drama and uncertainty.

The post MLB Set to Begin a 60-Game Season on July 24th appeared first on SportzBonanza.