Sad day for baseball as Minor League 2020 season officially canceled

In a move that’s been expected for some time, the minor league baseball season is cancelled.

These are unprecedented times for our country, as we fight a sudden COVID-19 resurgence while attempting to find some semblance of normalcy. While that means a return to Major League Baseball, the MiLB wasn’t as lucky. Hundreds of players are on very low or nonexistent salaries/stipends at a time where resources are scarce, and safety is paramount.

On Tuesday, the inevitable was officially announced. A financial disaster for MiLB means teams will be starved for financial help, and some may even fold. An experience that for so many has meant a night at the ballpark in small towns and cities has been taken from us, and with it a part of what makes baseball an unofficial language of the American sports landscape.

MiLB officially announced the cancellation of the 2020 season on Tuesday in a statement.

Minor League baseball was already struggling from a business standpoint, with MLB planning to shrink MiLB as a whole in the years to come. With a vacated season — and a very limited income –now on their plate, there’s no easy answer as to how franchises can be expected to wait this out, even with limited help from their major league parent organizations.

MLB owners’ complaints about the limited financial output from a 2020 major league season will trickle down, and there’s unfortunately very little benefit on their part to maintain the status quo. “What’s next?” is no easy question to answer, especially for those minor league franchises not lucky enough to be an alternate hosting cite for a major league team, or deemed an appropriate location for a collegiate/junior tournament of some sort.

Leaning on MLB ownership to make concessions, at least thus far, has not been a winning cause.