Report: MLB: The Show players-only league launching on Friday

Major League Baseball is still uncertain as to when the 2020 season will begin, but in the meantime, we’re going to get a different version of competitive baseball for the rest of April. MLB, the MLB Players Association, and Sony Interactive Entertainment have worked together to launch the first competitive MLB The Show league, according to ESPN’s Joon Lee.

The league will feature a representative from each team, and they will face off in a 29-game regular season schedule. The schedule kicks off on Friday, April 10th and will run through April 28th. ESPN is reporting the games will be three-inning matchups played every one to two days. There will be a playoff starting April 30th and a World Series on May 2nd. The playoffs will feature the top eight teams, with a best-of-three format for the first two rounds and a best-of-five format for the World Series.

The games will be accessible through the players’ Twitch channels. The league kicks off Friday evening at 9 p.m. ET with Tampa Bay Rays starter Blake Snell facing off against Cincinnati Reds reliever Amir Garrett on Snell’s Twitch channel.

ESPN got a look at the rules for the games, and they will be consistent across matchups. There will be no designated hitters (purists are gonna love that), batting difficulty will be set to “Veteran,” pitching difficulty will be set to “All-Star,” and there will be no guess pitch, quick counts, or balks.

The three organizations will donate $5,000 on behalf of each participating player to a Boys & Girls Club in their team’s community. The World Series winner will earn an additional $25,000 donation to their Boys & Girls Club.

ESPN posted the full list of players for the 30 teams:

Arizona Diamondbacks: Jon Duplantier
Atlanta Braves: Luke Jackson
Baltimore Orioles: Dwight Smith Jr.
Boston Red Sox: Eduardo Rodriguez
Chicago Cubs: Ian Happ
Chicago White Sox: Lucas Giolito
Cincinnati Reds: Amir Garrett
Cleveland Indians: Carlos Santana
Colorado Rockies: David Dahl
Detroit Tigers: Niko Goodrum
Houston Astros: Lance McCullers Jr.
Kansas City Royals: Brett Phillips
Los Angeles Angels: Ty Buttrey
Los Angeles Dodgers: Gavin Lux
Miami Marlins: Ryne Stanek
Milwaukee Brewers: Josh Hader
Minnesota Twins: Trevor May
New York Mets: Jeff McNeil
New York Yankees: Tommy Kahnle
Oakland Athletics: Jesus Luzardo
Philadelphia Phillies: Rhys Hoskins
Pittsburgh Pirates: Cole Tucker
San Diego Padres: Fernando Tatis Jr.
San Francisco Giants: Hunter Pence
Seattle Mariners: Carl Edwards Jr.
St. Louis Cardinals: Matt Carpenter
Tampa Bay Rays: Blake Snell
Texas Rangers: Joey Gallo
Toronto Blue Jays: Bo Bichette
Washington Nationals: Juan Soto