Tony Clark Knows MLB Players 'Want To Play' Even With Fans At Home

It’s anyone’s guess as to when the 2020 Major League Baseball season will begin, but Tony Clark knows the players are itching to take the field.

Spring training was cancelled, and Opening Day was suspended indefinitely due to growing concerns surrounding the coronavirus pandemic. There’s no timetable when (and if) the season will start, though super agent Scott Boras did propose potentially playing a World Series Game 6 on Christmas Day.

The league and MLB Players Association reportedly reached a deal Thursday night that was voted on Friday. One of the details that emerged from the agreement was that games would not be played until there is no ban restricting how many people can be in one place. Commissioner Rob Manfred was considering “neutral sites.”

MLBPA executive director Tony Clark doesn’t have any idea about a potential start date, but he does know the players “want to play.”

“Players want to play,” he said, via USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. “That’s what we do. Being able to get back on the field and being able to play, even if that means their fans are watching at home. Being able to play for their fans is something they’ve all expressed a desire and an interest to do, and to do so as soon as possible.”

Let’s just say the season begins June 1. Just how deep into 2020 could it go?

“We would play as long as we possibly could,” Clark said. “Obviously, the weather becomes a challenge the later you get in the calendar year, but we would do our best to play as many as possible regardless of when we start. How many games remains to be seen.”

Hopefully the season begins sooner rather than later.