What Are the Chances the Trenton Thunder Will Play This Year?

Earlier this week, we reported that Major League Baseball owners had approved a plan for a shortened season that would start in July.

Even though the games will be played in empty stadiums, it is still great news for fans who are starved for live sports on television.

Luckily, Major League Baseball teams like the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees can survive on revenues generated from broadcast rights, but what does this mean for Minor League Baseball.

That's the question lots of people in our area are asking due to the popularity of the Yankees' AA affiliate, the Trenton Thunder.

Unfortunately, the prospect of the Thunder playing this year is not good, at least according to an article published on cbssports.com. The article says that it is "extremely unlikely there will be a minor-league season in 2020."

APNews.com says that the prospect of no season could be devastating for some minor league teams. One minor league owner, Gary Green, told APNews.com that, "There’s no future for minor league sports with empty stadiums."

Even prior to the Coronavirus pandemic, there was a chance that Minor League Baseball would undergo major changes.  According to an article published on baseballamerica.com last October, Major League Baseball was proposing a plan that would eliminate 40 Minor League teams.

Baseballamerica.com said if the plan was approved, it would "lead to the most dramatic restructuring of the minor leagues in more than half a century."

It seems unlikely that Trenton would be in jeopardy of losing its team due to the fact that in 2016, Forbes ranked the Thunder as Minor League Baseball's 30th most valuable franchise.

So that means that even if we don't have baseball in Trenton this summer, it should be back in 2021.