By Matt Mueller Culture Editor Published Jun 23, 2020 at 8:59 PM

It often seemed like it would never happen, but major league baseball is coming back for 2020. 

As made official by a tweet from Major League Baseball Players Association, team owners and players have come to an agreement after months of failed and often testy negotiations. The end result: The MLB will play a 60-game season in 2020, with players reporting back to training camp (hosted by most teams' stadiums rather than the usual spring training grounds) by July 1 and regular season play expected to begin on either July 23 or 24. As reported by ESPN, the regular season will end on Sept. 27, followed by a 10-team postseason.

According to the MLB Network's Jon Heyman, in order to cut back on travel, the 60 games will include 40 games against the team's normal divisional foes as well as 20 games against their geographic counterpart in the opposite league – meaning that the Milwaukee Brewers, for instance, will play ten games each against its usual NL Central competition as well as four games each against the AL Central, including the Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox, Kansas City Royals, Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers. No matter who or where they play, though, fans will not be in the stands for this COVID-shortened season. 

There are rule changes for this truncated season as well. According to CBS Sports' Jim Bowden, the designated hitter will be incorporated into the National League, and extra innings will start with the team on offense receiving a runner on second base. 

"Major League Baseball is thrilled to announce that the 2020 season is on the horizon," MLB commissioner Rob Manfred in a release. "We have provided the Players Association with a schedule to play 60 games and are excited to provide our great fans with baseball again soon."

Matt Mueller Culture Editor

As much as it is a gigantic cliché to say that one has always had a passion for film, Matt Mueller has always had a passion for film. Whether it was bringing in the latest movie reviews for his first grade show-and-tell or writing film reviews for the St. Norbert College Times as a high school student, Matt is way too obsessed with movies for his own good.

When he's not writing about the latest blockbuster or talking much too glowingly about "Piranha 3D," Matt can probably be found watching literally any sport (minus cricket) or working at - get this - a local movie theater. Or watching a movie. Yeah, he's probably watching a movie.