March 26 should have been an exciting day for baseball fans around the world. It would have been the day that marked the start of the MLB regular season but, thanks to the coronavirus, Opening Day has been pushed back until the middle of May – at the earliest. This is just one of the many changes being made to MLB, and many more are still to come. Fortunately, not all of them are bringing bad news.

Mid-May is just the possible timeframe for the start of the league; it isn’t a definite. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred is basing his decisions on guidance coming from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “We’re not going to announce an alternate Opening Day at this point. We’re going to have to see how things develop.”

The last time Opening Day was delayed was in 1995, and that resulted in a shorter season. As a result, players took a cut in salary as fewer games were played, but there is talk that the season could be extended this year in order to not have to lose any games. However, for that to happen, players could be eligible for additional pay, and this is just one of the issues MLB executives and players are now trying to figure out.

Instead of simply extending the season, perhaps the league will offer a larger postseason. A greater number of playoff games, in theory, would mean more TV viewership, since pennant runs typically get more action, and this would be a more lucrative alternative than just sending the regular season into overtime. This would also allow the league, even with a seriously delayed Opening Day, adhere closer to its regular schedule, avoiding many of the issues that are expected to crop up from an extended season.