SB Nation Reacts: Will baseball be back?

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, an extension of our survey of fans across MLB. Each week, we will aim to send out questions to the most plugged in Rays fans, and fans across the country.

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Fans are ready for the return of baseball, and according to the latest survey conducted by SB Nation Reacts, they are behind the owners’ plan to start the season. This isn’t too surprising, given the owners’ ability thus far to win the information war, getting published news they had a proposal for the MLBPA to start a season, and then getting their projected losses to the AP and the front page of ESPN.

Baseball could be back!

With negotiations pending, of those surveyed, only 69 percent believe it is feasible for regular season games to begin in early July.

The current plan would likely get the season started around the July 4th weekend.

That plan, which is being negotiated with the MLBPA, would feature an 82-game season from July until early November. Nearly 80 percent of fans believe that length would still be seen as a meaningful season, with 59 percent saying the season needs to be at least 81 games long.

This is in line with how fans voted in late March, when more than 50 percent of fans said they expected 90 games or fewer this season. However, only 40 percent of fans then believed that a season featuring only 81 games would be meaningful, with the remaining 60 percent needing over 100 games.

Since that time, fans appear willing to make a number of sacrifices just to see baseball played this year. Only 10% of fans were willing to accept a plan for a 60-game season before the playoffs began.

In addition to a shorter season, 63 percent also said they expect the 2021 season to be affected by this coming season.

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