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Elephant Rumblings: Triple-A season delayed by a month

MLB news roundup

By Alex Hall

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MiLB: APR 09 Sacramento River Cats at Las Vegas Aviators
The Aviators will wait an extra month to get their Triple-A season going
Photo by Jeff Speer/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Good morning, Athletics Nation!

The minor leagues were canceled entirely in 2020, and the good news is that they’ll return to action in 2021. However, we’ll have to wait slightly longer than usual.

MLB announced Tuesday that the Triple-A season will be delayed by a month, and you can read more details at their official site or via Jeff Passan of ESPN. The A-ball and Double-A levels were already set to begin in early May, so now Triple-A will join them in that regard and the whole farm system will get going around the same time.

However, this news does not mean the Triple-A campaign is being shortened. It will simply be shifted back and extend deeper into September than normal, making up for the lost games in April.

With the coronavirus vaccines making progress against the pandemic, the league hopes that holding off minor league games a little longer can help increase the safety of playing a season and also having as many fans as possible in attendance.

Note that this move has no effect on the MLB schedule, which will still open April 1 as planned.

In addition to the Triple-A delay, the league also announced that alternate camp sites will return in some capacity in 2021, though the exact parameters are yet undetermined. The A’s camp was in San Jose last summer but might be in Stockton this year, reports insider Martin Gallegos, and there are rumors it might involve scrimmages against Giants minor leaguers in April.

For now, the one thing we know for sure is that we won’t get any new regular season game highlights from Finn the Bat Dog and the Las Vegas Aviators until May.

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