The start of the 2020 baseball season will be delayed for at least two weeks.
Amid concerns over the spread of COVID-19, the commissioner announced on Thursday that the season will not start on the originally scheduled Opening Day of March 26. The remainder of spring training is also suspended.
The White Sox were scheduled to open their highly anticipated season on March 26 at Guaranteed Rate Field. The Cubs were scheduled to start the season that same day in Wisconsin against the division-rival Milwaukee Brewers.
The ongoing global pandemic put those plans to a screeching halt. The start of the season will be pushed back at least two weeks while the league continues to monitor the situation.
If the two-week delay is all that is necessary, Opening Day will be on or around April 9, though the commissioner did not specify a potential starting date in his announcement. The announcement indicates that information regarding changes to the regular season schedule will be announced at a later date.
RELATED: No Chicago baseball until May?
The announcment followed decisions by the NBA, NHL and MLS to suspend their seasons. The NBA took swift action on Wednesday night after Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz tested positive for COVID-19. The NHL and MLS announced their decisions Thursday.
MLB
Teams across baseball were going to make significant changes whether the commissioner’s office acted or not. Earlier this week, MLB cities Seattle, San Francisco and Houston were banned from hosting large public gatherings by local and state officials. Public health officials in California recommended a statewide ban on large public gatherings altogether. On Thursday, the governor of New York followed with bans on large public gatherings in New York City.
It’s possible that Chicago follows suit, with Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Governor J.B. Pritzker in communication with the city’s professional teams about the possibility of banning large public gatherings.
The Seattle Mariners considered playing regular season games at their spring training facility in Arizona or playing without fans in attendance. They even considered playing their home games at opposing teams’ ballparks. Now, none of those contingency plans will be necessary.
This isn’t the first time the start of baseball season has been delayed.
In 1995, the season didn’t start until late April after players returned from a strike. Teams played only 144 regular season games.
Major League Baseball was also suspended for a week after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. Teams played a full 162-game schedule that year, with the regular season extended into October.
Click here to download the new MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the White Sox easily on your device.