Sports Update: April 24 – May 1, What’s MLB’s Plan?
(By: Dane Poe, May 1, 2020) (Header Credit: Mark Cunningham/Getty Images)
The world is still mostly closed as we go into May. Most of us have probably sat on our couches or our beds, binge watching about four different shows. While this is happening we can’t watch any physical sports other than reruns of games. Yet there is still some news coming out of the different leagues. Some big news and some not so important news.
- The NFL conducted their annual draft throughout last weekend. LSU’s former QB, Joe Burrow, ended up going first overall to the Cincinnati Bengals. This draft was conducted virtually as they weren’t able to hold it in person. According to CBS Sports’ John Breech, the average audience was 15.6 million during the first round and peaked at 19.6 million.
- The NBA has decided to push their draft lottery back to a date that will be announced in the future. This upcoming class has some solid talent coming into the lottery area of the draft. The most well known name is LaMelo Ball who is the youngest member of the Ball family. LaMelo’s oldest brother Lonzo plays for the New Orleans Pelicans in the NBA and his older brother plays for the Oklahoma City Blue in the G League. Another name that to keep an eye on is James Wiseman who is predicted to go first in the draft in many mock drafts.
- According to the Associated Press, the WNBA rookies will start to receive health benefits on May 1st. The league was supposed to start the 2020 season on the 15th but it has been postponed to a later date.
- According to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, MLB officials are “cautiously optimistic” that the league will start their season in late June. Some believe that the MLB will move to having three divisions, each consisting of ten teams. The MLB would have gotten through their first month of the 2020 season but instead players are stuck training and hanging out.
- According to ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski, NHL’s commissioner Gary Bettman thinks that the 2020-2021 season could start in December. This comes as a way to be able to see if they can complete the 2019-2020 season and playoffs. The league has been on pause since March 12th. The NHL is also thinking about resuming the season by playing only in four different arenas.