Baseball is back on (we think).
Major League Baseball's Players Association rejected MLB's last proposal for a 60-game season Monday night, but MLB commissioner Rob Manfred is expected to set the parameters for the 2020 season anyway.
Many expect Manfred to implement a 60-game season beginning sometime around July 24. So, who will the Boston Red Sox play with about 100 fewer games on their schedule?
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Apparently they'll be staying local. Teams are expected to play opponents in their division and their corresponding geographic division in the opposite league, the Tampa Bay Times' Marc Topkin reported Monday.
That means the Red Sox would play all of their games against the American League East (New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles) and National League East (Atlanta Braves, Washington Nationals, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets and Miami Marlins).
It's unclear how those games would be distributed, but Boston hypothetically could play 10 games each against its AL East foes and four games apiece against each NL East squad to get to 60 games.
This setup would reduce travel in an attempt to limit the spread of COVID-19. It also would be a pretty brutal schedule for the Red Sox, as six of the top 12 teams with the shortest World Series odds (per DraftKings Sportsbook) are in these two divisions: the Yankees, Rays, Braves, Nationals, Phillies and Mets.
As MLB.com's Ian Browne points out, the Sox also may start the abbreviated 2020 season against the rival Yankees, who trail only the Los Angeles Dodgers as favorites to win the World Series.
MLB gave the MLBPA a 5 p.m. ET deadline on Tuesday before setting the parameters for the season, so we should have more details soon.