The 2020 Major League Baseball season is currently on hold because of the novel coronavirus threat. Spring Training was halted last month and Opening Day has been pushed back until at least mid-May. Even in the best-case scenario, we're still a month away from baseball. Maybe longer.
With no real baseball on the horizon, MLB is stepping up with the next best thing: simulated baseball. On Thursday, MLB announced its new Dream Bracket tournament, which pits current stars against legends in a 32-team bracket style tournament. The simulation includes all-time teams for the 30 MLB franchises, plus a Negro Leagues team, and a present day 25-and-under team.
Each of the 32 teams has a 26-man roster (15 hitters and 11 hitters) of their all-time great players. There are duplicates too. Alex Rodriguez is on the Mariners, Rangers, and Yankees. Nolan Ryan is on the Angels, Astros, and Rangers. The full rosters can be found at MLB.com. Here are the details on the best-of-seven series tournament:
Starting today, fans can register on the DraftKings mobile app to compete in contests based on the simulations, which will be produced by Out of the Park Sports and will be available for live streaming on MLB Network's Twitch channel.
The first round will feature 16 matchups being played April 20-21, with the final round set to be played across two days starting Monday, May 4.
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The 32-team bracket is split by league with teams seeded hierarchically based on World Series titles won, pennants won, postseason appearances and regular-season winning percentage. The Negro League Stars and 25 & Under Stars are No. 8 seeds in the American League and National League, respectively.
It's hard to bet against the Yankees in an all-time best vs. all-time best tournament -- New York's lineup includes eight Hall of Famers and A-Rod -- but, in a short series (a simulated short series), anything can happen. The Negro League team deserves to win based on the names alone. Bullet Rogan! Slim Jones! Biz Mackey! They don't make baseball names like they used to.
Our Matt Snyder is currently breaking down each team's all-time roster. The series will continue throughout April.
