Another summer baseball tradition won’t happen this year because of coronavirus.
The 2020 Little League World Series has been canceled, the Little League organization announced Thursday, with COVID-19 making it impossible for teams around the country and international squads to convene in Williamsport, Pa. in August. This follows the cancellation of this year’s Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cooperstown.
“This is a heartbreaking decision for everyone at Little League International, but more so for those millions of Little Leaguers who have dreamt of one day playing in one of our seven World Series events,” Little League president and CEO Steve Keener said in a statement.
Eighty-two regional qualifying tournaments and seven World Series events, including the Little League Softball World Series, were cancelled. The 2020 MLB Little League Classic, which was going to feature the Red Sox vs. the Orioles on August 23 in Williamsport, is also cancelled.
The organization made the decision after consulting with Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, along with local and federal health officials. International travel concerns were a factor.
“Many of the travel restrictions that are in place will have significant impact on our ability to have teams from other countries participate in qualifying tournaments and ultimately to come to the United States for a World Series tournament based on immigration complexities that will be in place this summer,” Keener said in a Facebook video. “We’re as disappointed as anyone. We’ve never had to do this before.”
Little League has not, however, called off the 2020 regular season. Keener said there was reason for optimism that teams could play this spring and summer, depending on restrictions in states and localities.
The Little League World Series has been held every August since 1947 and had never been canceled before. Next year was to be the 75th playing of the tournament; that milestone has been pushed back to 2022.
— with AP