Eckersley discourages premature excitement about plans for MLB season

The latest idea that's picked up steam for allowing Major League Baseball's postponed season to proceed involves three divisions of 10 teams split geographically with clubs playing in their home ballparks.

While it's seen as a promising option, Hall of Fame closer and Boston Red Sox analyst Dennis Eckersley isn't letting himself get too excited until something is official.

"For me, I'm sitting here like everybody else and I'm trying to be positive but this is a matter of being fake pumped," Eckersley said on NESN "After Hours." "We're going to get fake pumped about 10 more times. Am I supposed to give into this saying, 'Oh, this is a new division, this and that'? Whatever happens, this is going to be a strange season."

Since the 2020 regular season was placed on an indefinite hiatus, various plans have surfaced for staging some semblance of a campaign this summer. One proposal involved all teams traveling to Arizona and playing at a number of ballparks in the state with no fans in attendance and players in quarantine throughout. This scenario was later expanded to include Florida and then Texas.

The league and commissioner Rob Manfred have stated that they are pursuing all possible solutions to ensure the season isn't lost. It was recently reported that MLB hopes to have a concrete plan in place by the end of May.

- With h/t to MassLive