2020 in baseball
Champions
Other Champions
The following events and seasons scheduled to be played this year were cancelled or postponed to the following year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.International tournaments
- 2020 Summer Olympics: Postponed to 2021
- European Cup: Cancelled
- Grand Forks International: Cancelled
- Haarlem Baseball Week: Cancelled
- U-15 Baseball World Cup: Postponed
- Women's Baseball World Cup: Postponed
- World Baseball Classic: Postponed to March 2023
Domestic seasons
- Minor League Baseball: All leagues cancelled.
- Arizona Fall League: Cancelled
- Atlantic League of Professional Baseball: Cancelled
- Frontier League: Cancelled
- Pacific Association: Cancelled
College
- 2020 College World Series: Cancelled
- 2020 NCAA Division II baseball tournament: Cancelled
- 2020 NCAA Division III baseball tournament: Cancelled
- NAIA World Series: Cancelled
- JUCO World Series: Cancelled
- Cape Cod League: Cancelled
Little League tournaments
- Intermediate League World Series: Cancelled
- Junior League World Series: Cancelled
- Little League World Series: Cancelled
- Senior League World Series: Cancelled
National leagues
- Dutch Baseball League: Season terminated with no champion declared.
- French League: Cancelled
Awards and honors
Major League Baseball
January
- January 21 – Derek Jeter and Larry Walker are voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Jeter is named on all but one of the 397 votes cast or 99.7 percent; he misses joining 2019 inductee Mariano Rivera as unanimous Hall of Fame inductees. Meanwhile, Walker receives 304 votes, or 76.6 percent, in his 10th and final year on the ballot. Curt Schilling, Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds, all in their eighth year on the ballot, are the only other players to be named on 60 percent of the vote at 70.0, 61.0 and 60.7 respectively.
- January 26 – John Altobelli, coach of the Orange Coast College baseball team is killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California that also kills NBA legend Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and 6 others.
February
- February 4 – The Philadelphia Phillies announce that they will retire Roy Halladay's number 34 on May 29, Halladay who was killed in a plane crash in November 2017 will be the ninth team member to have his number retired. It will be retired on the 10th anniversary of Halladay's perfect game.
- February 26 – Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan, NPB announced that their remaining 72 preseason games would be held behind closed doors and would not allow spectators to attend.
March
- March 9 – NPB announces the postponement the March 20 start of the regular season because of coronavirus. The league ultimately set its return date for June 19.
- March 12 – MLB cancelled the remaining spring training games and announced that the start of the regular season would be delayed indefinitely, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
April
- April 12 – 2020 Chinese Professional Baseball League season
May
- May 5 – 2020 KBO League season
June
- June 10–11 – 2020 Major League Baseball draft
- June 19 – 2020 Nippon Professional Baseball season
- June 23 – Major League Baseball announces its plan for a 60-game regular season, including several rule changes – most notably, the universal designated hitter. Schedules will include 40 games against division opponents and 20 games against the corresponding division in the other league, i.e. A.L. East vs. N.L. East. Players will receive a pro-rated salary of approximately 37 percent.
- June 30 – Minor League Baseball announces the cancellation of its season.
July
- July 1 – First day of MLB Summer Camps, also known as "Spring Training 2.0".
- July 10 – NPB begins allowing up to 5,000 fans in attendance at each game.
- July 22 – Mookie Betts signs a 12-year, $365 million contract extension with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
- July 23 – MLB announces an expanded playoff structure that includes eight teams from each league, up from five in previous seasons.
- July 23 – 2020 Major League Baseball season begins with the Washington Nationals and the New York Yankees. Dr. Anthony Fauci throws out the ceremonial first pitch at Nationals Park with no fans in attendance. Nationals outfielder Juan Soto is left off the Opening Day roster after testing positive for COVID-19.
- July 27 – Two games are postponed after as many as 13 members of the Miami Marlins test positive for COVID-19. The Marlins, who had just finished a three-game series in Philadelphia, were scheduled to return home to face the Baltimore Orioles. The Phillies' game against the New York Yankees is also postponed.
August
- August 13- Mookie Betts ties an MLB record with his sixth three homer game.
- August 25 - At Guaranteed Rate Field, Lucas Giolito of the Chicago White Sox no-hits the Pittsburgh Pirates 4–0. He strikes out 13 batters and yields only one baserunner, a walk to Erik González in the fourth inning. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the no-hitter is the first to be pitched in a game without fans. The no-hitter is the 19th in White Sox history, the most recent having been Philip Humber's perfect game on April 21, 2012, and the most recent by a White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field since Mark Buehrle's perfect game on July 23, 2009.
- August 30 - In defeating the Cincinnati Reds 10–1 at Great American Ball Park, the Chicago Cubs become the first team to have all three of its starting outfielders hit two home runs in one game. Left fielder Kyle Schwarber, center fielder Ian Happ and right fielder Jason Heyward hit the home runs; the former's second is a grand slam in the ninth inning. The Cubs also have three players homer twice in the same game for the first time since April 16, ; in that game, Ernie Banks, Randy Jackson and Dee Fondy each had hit two home runs in a 12–11 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.
September
- September 9 – The Atlanta Braves defeat of the Miami Marlins by a score of 29–9 becomes the first Scorigami in MLB since 1999.
- September 13 – At Miller Park, Alec Mills of the Chicago Cubs no-hits the Milwaukee Brewers, 12–0. He throws 74 of 114 pitches for strikes, walking three and striking out five for the 16th no-hitter in Cubs history. Jake Arrieta had pitched the Cubs' last no-hitter prior to this game, doing so for the second of his second career on April 21,. The no-hitter is also the Cubs' second at Miller Park, Carlos Zambrano having pitched it against the Houston Astros almost a full 12 years earlier, on September 14, ; that game had been moved to Milwaukee from Houston due to Hurricane Ike.
October
- October 27 – At Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Tampa Bay Rays 3–1 in Game 6 of the 2020 World Series to win the series 4–2. Corey Seager wins the World Series MVP.
November
- November 5 – Evan White of the Seattle Mariners and Anthony Rizzo of the Chicago Cubs won their first ever Golden Glove Awards.
- November 10 – Kyle Lewis of the Seattle Mariners and Devin Williams of the Milwaukee Brewers Respectively win the AL And NL Rookies of the Year.
- November 11 – Shane Bieber of the Cleveland Indians and Trevor Bauer of the Cincinnati Reds Respectively win the AL And NL CY Young Awards.
- November 12 – Jose Abreu of the Chicago White Sox and Freddie Freeman of the Atlanta Braves Respectively win the MLB MVP Awards.
Deaths
January
- January 1 – Don Larsen, 90, pitcher renowned for his perfect game in the 1956 World Series, at the time of his death the only perfect game and no-hitter in World Series history; although most known as a New York Yankee, his MLB career lasted 14 years as a member of seven different clubs, compiling an 81–91 career record in 412 appearances.
- January 9 – David Glass, 85, owner of the Kansas City Royals from 2000 to 2019 who helped lead the team to back-to-back pennants in 2014 and 2015 while winning the World Series in the latter year.
- January 9 – Hal Smith, 89, infielder, catcher and utilityman for five clubs between 1955 and 1964, best known as a member of the 1960 World Series Pittsburgh Pirates.
- January 20 – Jay Hankins, 84, outfielder who played 86 games for the Kansas City Athletics ; later a scout and scouting director.
- January 28 – Don Hasenmayer, 92, infielder in 11 total games for 1945–1946 Philadelphia Phillies.