Baseball is back. After almost 100 days of being locked out, Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association have reached a deal. The move means that as soon as the deal is ratified – schedule for 6:00 p.m. today, baseball can take place.
According to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com, a full 162-game season will be played:
The deal came to fruition a day after MLB postponed Opening Day until April 14 in the absence of a new agreement and announced that each team’s first four series were removed from the schedule. However, as part of this agreement, a full 162-game schedule will be played, and the four series that were previously removed from the calendar will be rescheduled. The makeup games that came as a result of the delay will be rescheduled as nine-inning doubleheaders.
The target date of the start of the new season will be April 7.
For the Phillies, that means the Phillies could open April 8 at home. The schedule remains wiped off the MLB schedule displayed on Phillies.com, but likely will be restored when the deal is ratified. There will need to be some adjustments to make up the two-game series in Washington and the three games in Houston. The latter will be more of a challenge since the Phillies will be in Washington for other games.
And by the way: the Phillies still need to build a roster. That construction can resume once the deal is ratified. The Phillies have two outfield positions to fill as well as spots on their pitching staff.
This will be a busy few weeks. Stay tuned.
