While MLB and the Player’s Union struggle to come up with a way to get games going, teams have started to commit to paying minor league players until things can get figured out. Unfortunately, other teams in the league have also started cutting minor league players loose rather than absorb the small salary commitments. All of that and more this week in the MLB.
Top News This Week
- The Nippon Baseball League of Japan is the latest international league to announce a return date for play. Japan’s premier baseball league will start up games in mid-June with 120 games scheduled to play. The commissioner of the league is also expecting fans to be able to attend games at some point.
- The Angels are the latest team to open up their Spring Training facilities to players. The minor league complex will also be open, though the Angels did just furlough a ton of their staff. It remains to be seen how the facilities in Tempe will be utilized.
- The latest in the news between the player’s union and the league is that there us no new news. The soft date of June 1st that many hoped would be the cutoff date for negotiations is tomorrow with no end of negotiating in sight. The soft cutoff date was set in order to get games going by July 4th, which means that date is now in question.
- The Reds and the Astros have also committed to paying their minor league players a $400 per week stipend. Both teams have committed to paying these players through the month of August at least.
- The Twins will commit to paying their minor league players and have no intention of making any cuts at this time.
Social News
MLB released a series of historical matchups for Homerun Derbys…all of which were a little bit questionable. The Barry Bonds versus Cody Bellinger matchup in particular fell under heavy scrutiny, mostly for Bonds’ history with steroids. But there were also clear mismatches.
Barry vs. Belli.
Who is your #WhatIfDerby pick? pic.twitter.com/ebjV6PCtfH
— MLB (@MLB) May 31, 2020
Polar Bear Pete. Big Mac.
Who will be moving on in the #WhatIfDerby? pic.twitter.com/UpLZs2tRwI
— MLB (@MLB) May 31, 2020
MLB also posted this highlight of Manny being Manny, starting in his days with the Indians. Take a look as the league celebrated his 48th birthday.
Manny being Manny. 😂@therealmanny99 turns 48 today! pic.twitter.com/XMoLkI8C7I
— MLB (@MLB) May 30, 2020
Big Papi vs. Mike Trout. 👀
Who would hit more dingers in the #WhatIfDerby? pic.twitter.com/ydcST72hJ2
— MLB (@MLB) May 30, 2020
And finally, we have reached our peak of not having any sort of content, with the league wondering which version of Shohei Ohtani would win in a matchup.
How would Ohtani do against Ohtani? 👀 pic.twitter.com/Of36qwjL1r
— MLB (@MLB) May 29, 2020
All of that news and more, this week in MLB! Check back weekly with GMS Sports for the most up-to-date information on your favorite sports.
