NEW YORK – Major League Baseball players, field personnel, and individuals who do not participate in games but require entry to stadiums will be required to wear electronic tracking wristbands when they start spring training and could face punishment for failing to comply .
Players will be encouraged to get vaccinated, but it will not be a requirement.
These are the measures that are part of the health protocols agreed by Major League Baseball and the players’ association to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.
The 108-page operations manual, agreed to Monday night and obtained by The Associated Press, expands the 101-page version they used in the shortened 2020 campaign.
“Each individual must wear the Kinexon contact tracing device at all times while on the club premises and during organizing team trips, as well as during team activities, including group training and practice,” says the Handbook.
“If they repeatedly do not carry the device or do not return the device to the Kinexon charging station, they could face punishment,” he added.
Sanctions against players will be applied under the just cause clause of the collective agreement.
“Vaccination against COVID-19 will be voluntary for players. However, MLB and MLBPA (the initials in English for the baseball guild) will strongly encourage players to get vaccinated at the appropriate time, “the manual adds.
MLB and the players agreed to keep the seven-inning doubleheader and runners at second base to start the extra innings for the second straight season.
The deal does not contemplate the use of the designated hitter in the National League or an expansion of the playoff format, which was piloted last year.
After allowing 16 teams in the postseason instead of 10, MLB proposed 14 playoff appearances this year before withdrawing that plan last month.
The deal to expand the playoffs last year wasn’t reached until a few hours before the first pitch of that season.
“We are comfortable with both rules,” San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler said in a text message to the AP. “I think most did well with those rules in 2020 and with a year of familiarity. , we can adapt ”.
A total of 78 games were defined in bonus episodes the year. The longest were a pair of 13-inning games in Houston, with the Los Angeles Dodgers (July 29) and Oakland (August 7) winning. Every previous season since 1901 he had had at least one game of 15 or more innings.
Forty-five games were postponed due to the pandemic, and two of them could never be made up. To complete a shortened season, 56 doubleheader was contested, the most since 76 in 1986.
Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker agrees with the experiment because it “gives pitchers breathing space” during the pandemic.
“Both rules seem fine to me,” Baker told the AP. “Besides, what else can you do?”
Spring training will begin on February 17 and the regular season will begin on April 1.
The union last week rejected a proposal by the majors to delay the start of spring camps and delay the first day of the season until April 28. That would have compressed the schedule to 154 team games instead of the usual 162.
The designated hitter rule in the National was out due to the refusal of the players’ union to delay the start of the season.
The start of last year’s season was delayed to July 23 due to the pandemic, with a 60-game schedule for each team.
