MLB Trade Deadline Will Reportedly Be August 31 Amid Shortened Season
June 23, 2020
Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association have resolved all remaining issues preventing a 2020 season, and players will be reporting to training camp for a second spring training period prior to Opening Day:
With that news official, the 2020 season will include many changes on the transaction and roster fronts, and one is bumping the trade deadline a month later than usual to Aug. 31, per Jayson Stark of The Athletic.
The MLB campaign has been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was scheduled to begin March 26.
The MLB trade deadline typically takes place on July 31, but the 2020 campaign will look nothing like any of the seasons that have come before it, especially when it comes to roster management.
Of note, the season will start with 30-man rosters, per Stark, before they are eventually whittled down to 26 prior to the playoffs.
Teams have the option of inviting up to 60 players for a spring training period that would take place in July, including the players on the 40-man roster plus 20 others, according to Stark.
MLB is even considering having an emergency pool of players for clubs to choose from amid the COVID-19 pandemic, per Stark, with the equivalent of two teams housed in Nashville.
On that note, there will also be a COVID-19 list separate from the typical injured list for players who test positive, per Passan, and that list would not be marked with a designated number of days.
As for the Aug. 31 trade deadline, it's possible very little action occurs, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today, considering that the season would end in less than a month and franchises looking to pick up minor league prospects would be taking a gamble on players they haven't seen perform since 2019.
The 2020 season will be 60 games long, per Nightengale, and begin on Friday, July 24. An official schedule is expected within the next three days.