Phillies Reportedly Commit to Paying Full-Time Employees Through October

The Philadelphia Phillies have reportedly committed to pay their full-time employees through the end of October amid the coronavirus pandemic.

According to Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia, Phillies managing partner John Middleton wrote the following in a letter to team employees that was obtained by NBC Sports Philadelphia: "The Buck and Middleton families have decided that there will be no furloughs or layoffs due to the coronavirus crisis through the end of our fiscal year [October 31, 2020] for regular full-time employees."

While there will be no layoffs for full-time employees, Middleton didn't rule out salary reductions: "While we will likely need to implement other cost-cutting alternatives in the interim to deal with our extraordinary loss of revenue, including possible salary reductions, you can be assured of your job and health insurance for the next five-plus months."

The 2020 MLB regular season had been scheduled to begin in late March, but MLB halted play during spring training as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last month, the Phillies became one of the first teams to guarantee that they would pay their employees through the end of May.

Per Salisbury, the Phillies have more than 460 full-time employees when taking into account their offices in Philadelphia, the Dominican Republic and Clearwater, Florida.

Like most major sports leagues across the world, MLB remains suspended, and there is no concrete plan in place for when or if play will resume in 2020. If it does, it will almost certainly require teams playing fewer than the scheduled 162 games apiece.

A return could also see teams play with no fans in attendance, and they may even have to play all their games at one central location rather than their home ballparks.

Several different plans have reportedly been discussed, including having all teams stay in Arizona and play all of their games in the state. Options that would allow teams to play in their home parks have been talked about as well.

If the 2020 season does get underway at some point, it is possible that MLB will undergo a radical realignment for one season only with teams normally in the American or National League getting put in the same division.

The 2020 campaign would have run through October under normal circumstances, and Phillies employees now know that their jobs are secure through at least that date regardless of what happens with the season.