Two-time World Series winner Hunter Pence and Juan Soto of reigning champion Washington Nationals are among the 30 Major League Baseball players to start an online tournament. “MLB The Show” features five World Series champions and 11 All-Stars in the lineup, with one player from each MLB team playing each of its rivals for approximately three weeks and the top eight advancing to the playoffs of the virtual competition.
MLB closed real pre-season games last month and postponed the planned launch of the March 26 campaign due to the coronavirus pandemic. The five who played World Series champions included San Francisco Giants outfielder Pence, a member of their 2012 and 2014 title teams, and Soto, a 21-year-old Dominican outfielder who led Washington over Houston in the seven-game championship game from last year.
Three World Series champions pitchers are also from Houston Lance McCullers of the 2017 champion Astros, Venezuelan Eduardo Rodriguez of the 2018 champion Boston and Seattle’s Carl Edwards, who won a 2016 World Series title with the Chicago Cubs # Playoffs begin on April 30 with the best-of-three first and second rounds establishing a best-of-five virtual World Series.
Games are streamed via MLB social media. Each is only three turns instead of the nine real teams would play, allowing online players to play in multiple games in one day.
(This story has not been edited by staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
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