Due to the coronavirus pandemic, there will be no minor-league baseball this season, the MiLB announced on Tuesday afternoon.
“Major League Baseball has informed Minor League Baseball that it will not be providing its affiliated Minor League teams with players for the 2020 season,” the league released in a statement. “As a result, there will not be a Minor League Baseball season in 2020.”
This will be the first time in 118 years that there will be a summer without minor-league baseball.
MiLB, which was originally founded as the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, began in 1901.
“These unprecedented times for our country and our organization as this is the first time in our history that we’ve had a summer without Minor League Baseball played,” MiLB president and CEO, Pat O’Conner said. “While this is a sad day for many, this announcement removes the uncertainty surrounding the 2020 season and allows our teams to begin planning for an exciting 2021 season of affordable family entertainment.”
New York City has a pair of minor-league teams in its confines in the Brooklyn Cyclones, the Mets’ Single-A affiliate, and the Staten Island Yankees, the Yankees’ Single-A affiliate.
For the thousands of minor-league ballplayers that are not invited to MLB teams’ 60-player pool this month, they have been given a green light by MiLB to join independent ball clubs until their contracts are reinstated next year.
