The light at the end of the tunnel just got a little bit farther away. Minor League Baseball released its schedule two weeks ago, but there has already been a significant change. As first reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the start of the Triple-A season has been pushed back to May 4.
Initially, Triple-A was the only level that was expected to start on time with an April 6 start date. Spring training is currently restricted to MLB and Triple-A players to limit the number of players in the facilities during the pandemic. Minor league spring training would follow once those players left for the start of the regular season. Double-A and A ball were scheduled to start May 4. Now all of the minors will start on that day.
While the Knights haven’t released an updated schedule yet, some teams have. It appears the season will be pushed back into September instead and will not be shortened. If Triple-A teams are playing deep into September, this will likely have an impact on how many players get September call-ups when MLB rosters expand.
Passan’s report also included a note that alternate sites will be back until the Triple-A season starts. It sounds like the alternate sites this time around will be more of an extended spring training for the Charlotte Knights as opposed to the limited group last year.
The White Sox used the home of the Schaumburg Boomers in 2020 as the alternate site. The Boomers’ Frontier League is expected to return in 2021, but their scheduled start is May 27. The White Sox could theoretically return to Schaumburg for a month if they want. The Phillies are using their Triple-A affiliate, Lehigh Valley, as their alternate site. The White Sox could just stash players in Charlotte for workouts and pull them up as needed.
This shift allows for another month of vaccines. Many more people will be vaccinated in September than will be in April. Teams could be able to have bigger crowds by then.
We’ve waited a year and a half for the return of Minor League Baseball. What’s another month? We’re two months away now.
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They are doing all this for reasons that make sense as baseball still copes with the COVID-19 pandemic. With the alternate site in place for AAA players in April, the AA and A players can still get through their delayed spring training in Arizona more safely. It also makes sense to start AAA, AA and A schedules at the same time because of promotions, demotions and rehab stints that see a constant exchange of players between those levels. As already pointed out there is also a financial incentive involved with more fans likely to attend games later in the summer than earlier in the spring.
Now if we can only get MLB and the MLBPA to make equally sensible decisions as they head toward the expiration of the current CBA on December 1st…