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July 6 (UPI) -- Two opening day matchups have leaked prior to Major League Baseball's planned TV announcement for its 60-game coronavirus pandemic-shortened 2020 season. MLB will release complete schedules for the suspended 2020 season at 6 p.m. EDT Monday on MLB Network.
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The 2020 MLB campaign was scheduled to start March 26, but was pushed into late July due to the pandemic. MLB canceled training camps in mid-March. Players have since returned to stadiums for workouts in teams' respective cities.
Sources told USA Today and the San Francisco Chronicle that the Los Angeles Dodgers will host the San Francisco Giants in one of two nationally televised games July 23. Sources previously told USA Today, ESPN and the New York Post that the World Series champion Washington Nationals will host the New York Yankees in the other July 23 clash.
Sources told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch last week that the St. Louis Cardinals will host the Pittsburgh Pirates July 24 at Busch Stadium.
MLB Network's one-hour special will feature key matchups and dates for the schedule, which begins July 23. The schedules include 40 divisional games and 20 inter-league games -- against corresponding geographical divisions -- per team.
Caesars has the Yankees and Dodgers as co-favorites to win the World Series at +350, which means bettors would win $250 if they wagered $100 on either team to win. The Houston Astros, Atlanta Braves, Minnesota Twins, Oakland Athletics, Tampa Bay Rays and Nationals also are among the favorites to win the title.
BetOnline.AG also has the Dodgers and Yankees as the favorites to win the World Series after the shortened 2020 regular season.
The MLB season, which is typically 162 games, also will include several rule changes.
Both leagues will use the designated hitter position, which previously was limited to the American League. Each half-inning after the ninth will begin with a runner on second base until a team wins.
The 2020 MLB postseason format will be unchanged compared to last season's playoff structure.
The American League and National League will each field five playoff teams. The top seed in each league will face the winner of a wild card game. The No. 2 and No. 3 seeds in each league will play the winner of the game between No. 1 seeds and wild card winners in the respective league championship series.
The winner of each league's championship will earn a spot in the World Series.
The league division series is a best-of-five game format while the league championship series and World Series are each best-of-seven game formats.
