Nobody knows what will happen with the 2020 baseball season.

Baseball is shut down for now, through at least early May. Rob Manfred, MLB commissioner, confirmed to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Derrick Goold on Monday that the season will not be starting April 9, the original earliest delayed start date, and that MLB will be abiding by CDC recommendations, which limit gatherings of more than 50 people for at least the next eight weeks. That much we know for sure.

After that, though? At this still-very-early point in the coronavirus pandemic, everything is on the table, and the foundational decisions are very much out of MLB’s hands. How many games will be played? A full 162-game slate seems impossible. But 125? Maybe 100? A half-season of 81 contest for each team?

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Most anything you’re hearing right now is just speculation. Informed speculation, maybe, but speculation nonetheless.

But we do know, thanks to Yankees manager Aaron Boone, in an interview with MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM, that lots of options are being considered, even ones that would have typically seemed impossible to believe.

Neutral site postseason series in 2020?



Aaron Boone on what he's heard: @Yankees | #Yankees pic.twitter.com/P5Ms5Kx6SH — MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (@MLBNetworkRadio) March 17, 2020

Let's get into what he said, starting here:

“I’ve heard things about neutral-site places, where you’re playing a whole series and eliminating some off days,” Boone said, “because you know they’re going to want to try to get in as many games as possible, so it’s going to tack on to the end of the season.”

Boone was, of course, talking about the postseason — can’t call it “October” at this point, with any confidence — when he was referring to neutral-site series.

That would be quite the change. The NFL hosts the Super Bowl in a neutral-site location every year. It works for that league. Part of the beauty of baseball has always been the opportunity to win or lose a World Series title in your own ballpark. To lose that, for even one year, would be a loss. Understandable, though.

Last year, the Nationals played their first postseason game Oct. 1 and their last postseason game on Oct. 30, winning the World Series with a Game 7 victory against the Astros in Houston. They played 17 games — the NLCS was a sweep, but the other series went the maximum number of games — in those 30 days, so yes, there’s room to eliminate off/travel days in a pressing situation.

And let’s say, in an effort to get as many games in the regular season as possible, MLB doesn’t start the postseason until Oct. 15 or so. Even with neutral-site locations to eliminate travel days, playing a full postseason schedule — that’s probably on the table, too — would mean November playoff games. Many of them.

It would be less-than-great to play the most important games of the year in freezing temps as snowflakes fall in certain locations. Cue Aaron Boone again.

“Obviously, the season’s going to carry on longer, so you’re going to have to potentially be in warm-weather spots or dome situations, so that may lend itself to some neutral-site situations,” he said. “We’ll see how that works out.”

Imagine, let’s say, Boone’s Yankees playing the Braves in — just randomly picking a warmer-weather location — San Diego for all seven (potential) World Series games. It wouldn’t feel right, but it’s something that’s at least being discussed, it seems.

And it does make sense. There are no “right” answers in a situation like this. Only best guesses and temporary compromises.

“This is that opportunity to be a little creative and maybe, at the end of it all, we’ll get to look back and say, hey, this was a good idea. This is something that worked that we’d like to implement moving forward, or this is something that didn’t really work. So that is one of the things that, that opportunity will present itself now that we’re obviously in a unique situation.”

Stay tuned, baseball fans.