Aaron Boone will be sporting a new in-game look this season.
Major League Baseball’s 2021 Operations Manual, collectively bargained with the MLB Players Association, features most of the same rules and regulations — including seven-inning doubleheaders, the runner on second base to begin extra innings, a 26th roster spot and no spitting — that enabled the game to finish its season, albeit a COVID-shortened one, in 2020 (no, the spitting ban wasn’t really enforced). The agreement features many new wrinkles, however, among them the exclusion of gaiters as an acceptable face covering for non-players in uniform.
“Neither gaiters nor masks with exhalation valves meet the definition of a face covering for purposes of the requirements in this Operations Manual,” the document reads. “Gaiters may continue to be worn on the field by players.”
Boone, the Yankees’ manager, was among the managers and coaches who went with a gaiter last season. The Mets’ Luis Rojas wore a mask, which now will be universal among his lot by virtue of baseball’s medical experts determining that masks best protected competitors.
Among the other updates and tweaks that can be found in Year 2 of COVID-ball:
- After hitters complained last year about the lack of in-game video, they will receive access to that through MLB-issued iPads “in a format that cannot be used to steal the catcher’s signs” via selective editing and/or pixelating. Don’t even think about it, Astros or Red Sox.
- Players, managers and staff (designated as “Covered Individuals”) who test positive for the coronavirus must isolate for at least 10 days. A Covered Individual who has been identified as having been in close contact with a confirmed case of COVID must quarantine for seven days and must test negative on the fifth day or later to be cleared. Last year’s agreement didn’t feature a specific amount of days, instead relying on two negative tests to be allowed back. To enhance contact tracing, all Covered Individuals will wear Kinexon devices while on team property or traveling with the team.
- Stricter rules are in place, as per a league-wide “Code of Conduct,” to govern the movement of players, managers and coaches (qualified as “Covered Individuals”) outside the ballpark. They can’t attend indoor gatherings of 10 or more people; eat at indoor restaurants, bars and lounges; or go to fitness or wellness centers, entertainment venues or casinos. During spring training, Covered Individuals and their households must quarantine at their homes with the exceptions of outdoor dining, individual outdoor physical activities and a doctor’s visit as well as going to work. Those who violate the Code of Conduct will be subject to pay forfeiture for the days they are in quarantine as a result of their forbidden actions.
- Each club must appoint at least one “Facemask Enforcement Officer” whose job will be to ensure everyone is wearing a mask when required (all times at the ballpark besides playing in the game). A third violation and every subsequent one of this rule will result in a $150 fine, which will be sent to a charity mutually agreed upon by MLB and the MLBPA.
- For exhibition games held between Feb. 27 and March 13, the defensive manager may call an inning “complete” before the third out if his pitcher has thrown at least 20 pitches. Also in this time frame, games can be shortened to as few as five innings if both managers consent to it. Starting on March 14, games can be downsized to as little as seven innings.
- There will be no overnight trips for teams during spring training. Most Florida-based clubs typically do at least one of these a spring. For road games, players will be encouraged to drive their own cars (a choice most veterans typically make anyway) to avoid crowding on a bus.
- On March 17 (15 days before Opening Day, as the schedule currently stands), commissioner Rob Manfred will determine whether the Triple-A level of minor league ball will begin in concert with the major leagues. If Manfred declares that Triple-A ball won’t start on time, then the “Alternate Site” model from last year will resume. Either way, each team will designate an alternate site to be ready for usage.
- Mental health resources will be provided to players and staff.