It’s almost four months later than originally planned, but Major League Baseball is set to open its 2020 season July 23 after a nearly three-month shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by three weeks of summer training camp.
Accompanying the resumption of baseball are new health and safety protocols, several new on-field rules and a new 60-game schedule in which each team will play 40 division games and 20 interleague matchups against the corresponding geographic division.
We asked our three baseball writers — Cubs reporter Mark Gonzales, White Sox reporter LaMond Pope and columnist Paul Sullivan — to fill in the blanks on six hot topics surrounding the 2020 season.