Baseball is back! Kind of.
Taking a page from the NBA and its virtual NBA 2K tournament, Major League Baseball announced Friday it's launching an "MLB The Show 20" video game league. ESPN's Joon Lee first reported the news.
One player from each MLB team will control their own squad in the league, which runs through April 28 followed by a postseason beginning April 30 and a "World Series" on May 2.
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Left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez is representing the Boston Red Sox, per Lee, while the other 29 participants include notable names like Rays pitcher Blake Snell, Indians slugger Carlos Santana, Nationals outfielder Juan Soto and Brewers reliever Josh Hader.
Players supposedly will stream the virtual games -- which will run between three and five innings each -- on their personal Twitch accounts, with Snell and Reds hurler Amir Garrett kicking things off Friday night at 9 p.m. ET.
The tournament is a cool idea that may help fill part of the baseball void created by the coronavirus pandemic, which forced MLB to postpone the start of the 2020 season.
MLB reportedly is mulling a radical option of quarantining all 30 teams in Arizona to begin the real season as early as May. This "MLB The Show" league wouldn't conflict with that option, which apparently still is on the table.
Boston Red Sox
So, if you want to watch Rodriguez and other MLB stars "play" baseball, stay tuned to their Twitch accounts over the next few weeks.
Oh, and it's also for a good cause: MLB, the MLB Players Association and Sony (which makes "MLB The Show") will contribute $5,000 to local Boys and Girls clubs for each player, with the winner earning an extra $25,000 donation.