Reports: Major League Baseball owners approve plan to start season in July

The plan will be presented to the Major League Baseball Players Association on Tuesday.

According to reports by USA Today's Bob Nightengale and the Associated Press, the new proposal calls for an 82-game season that would start July 1-4 without fans in the stands. It's just the latest plan — one of several leaked this spring. Major League Baseball has worked on different scenarios throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

Among the other items of interest in this latest proposal are:

1. The leagues and divisions wouldn’t change, but teams would only play within their division and against the other same division in the other league. The Cincinnati Reds would play their normal opponents in the National League Central Division, for instance, and also teams in the American League Central. About 40 percent of the games would be interleague games, which is why the DH would likely be used throughout baseball.

» EARLIER PROPOSAL: Reds, Indians in same division?

2. The owners agreed on a 50-50 revenue sharing split with the players.

3. Spring training would start in June at teams’ home facilities or at their spring-training complexes.

4. Teams would play at their home stadiums unless they could not get medical or government approval. Other options would be playing at their spring training homes. According to the AP, the Toronto Blue Jays may have to play home games in Dunedin, Fla.

5. The postseason would add an extra round, expanding from 10 to 14 teams. There would be four wild-card teams in each league.

6. Active rosters would expand from 26 to 30 players.

7. There likely will be no All-Star Game. It was scheduled to be played July 14 at Dodger Stadium.