CLEVELAND, Ohio — Baseball has cleared its last manmade hurdle in order to play the 2020 season. The coronavirus is still waiting, but now the owners and players can concentrate on fighting it instead of each other.

On Monday night Commissioner Rob Manfred, with the unanimous support of MLB’s 30 owners, agreed to move forward with the season after the players association rejected their latest proposal. On Tuesday night, the players agreed to report to Spring Training II on July 1 with the idea of starting the 60-game season on July 23 or July 24 and ending it on Sept. 27.

The last item to be checked off the list was the health and safety protocols to combat the virus. When that was agreed upon, the MLBPA pushed the send button on this Tweet on Tuesday night.

Players will cycle into camp a few at a time, starting with pitchers and catchers, because they have to be tested for the virus. The Indians already have about 10 players working out at Progressive Field, including the starting rotation. Practice is expected to start on July 3.

Teams will be able to bring 60 players to camp. The Indians have made provisions to use other facilities in the area — Classic Park in Eastlake, Canal Park in Akron, St. Ignatius High School facilities or the Crushers Ballpark in Avon — if things become too crowded at Progressive Field.

The majority of teams will conduct Spring Training II at their big-league ballparks.

Teams, according to reports, could open the season with a 30-man roster, which would drop to 28 and then 26. If this was a normal season, teams would open the season with a 26-man roster, one more than last season.

Each team will keep a taxi squad of 20 to 30 players in reserve to support the big league club in case of illness, injury or poor performance. It will be interesting to see what type of players teams keep in reserve. Will they be players only from the 40-man roster or could they be prospects who teams want to keep in a competitive environment so they don’t miss an entire season with no minor-league games being played.

The DH will be used in both leagues this year. In extra-inning games a runner will be placed on second base in every inning after the ninth. If the run scores, the pitcher will not be charged with an earned run.

Aug. 31 will be the trading deadline. Teams can start making trades and roster moves, according to The Athletic, on Friday. The rosters have been frozen since spring training was suspended on March 12.

MLB has sent the 2020 schedule to the players association for review. The Indians’ opponents will be their AL Central foes and the teams in the NL Central — the Cubs, Pirates, Reds, Cardinals and Brewers. This will limit travel, expenses and exposure to the virus.

Taking the Tribe as an example, here’s how the schedule is expected to break down, according to USA Today. The Indians will play 10 games each against the Twins, White Sox, Tigers and Royals. Then they’ll play 20 games against teams from the NL Central.

“I’m excited to get going,” said Indians utility player Mike Freeman. “At the end of the day, we’re going to play baseball and compete. I think that’s what everyone has been missing at this point. Just being in the clubhouse and getting back into that routine of getting ready for games.

“I think all of us at this level we thrive on competition. So we’re looking forward to getting that going again.”

MLB’s original safety protocols called for players to shower and dress in their uniforms at home or in their hotel rooms. It sounds like that restriction has been relaxed.

New Indians face masks for sale: Here’s where you can buy Cleveland Indians-themed face coverings for coronavirus protection, including a single mask ($14.99) and a 3-pack ($24.99). All MLB proceeds donated to charity.

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A Tulane University basketball player who was sidelined before the season has been arrested and barred from team activities after a woman accused him of raping her. 

Bul Ajang, a 6-foot-10 native of South Sudan who came to Tulane on a basketball scholarship but played sparingly because of an injury, was booked Monday with third-degree rape after he was accused of forcing himself on a woman after a night on the town. He is out of jail on a $10,000 bond.

The alleged victim told investigators that she, Ajang and others went to a bar on Sunday to drink and dance, according to a police account of the case filed in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court. She said the next thing she remembered was waking up to find Ajang forcing her into sex in a strange bedroom.

The woman said she rejected Ajang and told him she wanted to go home, police said. She said the 22-year-old player then “hit her to the right part of her forehead and continued having sex with her.” 

Eventually, Ajang called a ride-share service, which brought the pair to the woman’s home in the Florida neighborhood, police said. 

The woman said she was dropped off, ran into her home and told her live-in boyfriend that Ajang had assaulted her. She called 911 to report that she had been raped, then went to University Medical Center and underwent a sexual assault examination, police said.

Without elaborating, police said they didn’t see any visible facial injuries on the woman.

Police said they interviewed Ajang at Tulane Medical Center, where he was receiving treatment for injuries that he claimed he suffered after being attacked by the woman’s boyfriend when he dropped her off.

In his interview, Ajang offered a different version of events.

He said he and his roommate had gone to visit one of the woman’s roommates, according to police. From there, Ajang said his accuser accompanied him and his roommate to a party before Ajang and the woman went alone to a bar to continue drinking, which they had been doing throughout the evening.

According to police, Ajang said the two were “(messed) up” when they went to his Uptown home and began having sex. He said they stopped when the woman asked to go home, and he called a ride-share service.

Ajang said her boyfriend attacked him as he was dropping her off.

An attorney for Ajang couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. Tulane sports information director Tom Symonds said Ajang no longer has any association with the program. He remains a student at the university.

Third-degree rape in Louisiana can carry up to 25 years in prison but has no mandatory minimum punishment. Authorities can pursue that charge against anyone they suspect knowingly had sex with a person whose ability to consent was incapacitated by alcohol or some other substance.

Ajang played only occasionally for two years at Tulane under former coach Mike Dunleavy Sr.

After scoring a career-high five points in the Green Wave’s American Athletic Conference opener at Cincinnati last season, he played in just three more games before a chronic knee problem sidelined him last January for the rest of the season.

New coach Ron Hunter said in August that Ajang had undergone knee surgery and would get a medical hardship from the NCAA, ending his playing career.

“He’s going to stay on scholarship and be my personal assistant coach,” Hunter said at the time. “I just don’t think you should run kids off because of an illness or something like that. He’s going to be with us until he graduates here and, if he wants to stay with us, after he graduates.”

Ajang, a business major, signed with Tulane in November 2016 out of the Patrick School in New Jersey.

In April 2014, New Orleans police booked a Tulane football player on an allegation that he raped a woman on campus who was too intoxicated to consent to sex, but prosecutors later dropped the case. The woman from that case also filed a lawsuit against that player, a teammate and the university, which Tulane ultimately settled.

A student survey Tulane conducted a few years ago found that four in 10 undergraduate women said they had been subjected to unwanted sexual contact. That survey prompted the university to adopt a number of measures aimed at preventing sexual violence, including a faculty guide on how to talk with students about sexual violence and a standardized training guide educating students on healthy relationships.

This story has been updated since it was first published. 

Exiled St George Illawarra forward Jack de Belin could be cleared to return from his indefinite suspension before the NRL season restarts after the coronavirus hiatus, according to reports.

De Belin was the first player banned under the NRL’s controversial no-fault, stand-down policy last February.

The policy, introduced under ex-ARL Commission chairman Peter Beattie, allows the NRL to indefinitely suspend any player charged with an offence carrying a maximum jail sentence of 11 years or more.

De Belin is facing five sexual assault charges stemming from an alleged incident involving a woman in December, 2018.

MORE: Peter V’landys ‘very confident’ NRL can return on June 1

His trial, alongside co-accused Shellharbour Sharks player Callan Sinclair, was initially due to commence in February but was rescheduled to early November before the COVID-19 crisis hit.

Having already missed the entire 2019 season, De Belin’s case is now almost certain to be pushed back to 2021 due to further delays in the court system caused by social distancing rules.

As first reported by News Limited, De Belin is seeking an in-person meeting with NRL CEO Todd Greenberg in a bid to have his suspension lifted.

But the Dragons and NSW lock’s biggest hope of a 2020 return lies in the Rugby League Players Association’s (RLPA) legal challenge of the no-fault, stand-down policy.

The RLPA will argue the NRL violated the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) after failing to consult them before implementing its powers to suspend players before a legal matter has been decided by the courts.

An independent arbitrator will hear the matter in the coming weeks, with News Limited reporting a decision could be reached by the end of April.

If the RLPA prevails, new CEO Clint Newton will push for the policy to be immediately eradicated, clearing the way for the off-contract De Belin to immediately return.

De Belin challenged the no-fault, stand-down policy in the Federal Court in 2019 but withdrew his case in August.

Meanwhile, new ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys this week boldly declared the NRL competition could resume as early as June.

The season was suspended last month after just two rounds due to the coronavirus.

Cowboys Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman recently joined The Musers on KTCK-FM 96.7/AM 1310 The Ticket. Here are some highlights:

What was the main thing that did the Cowboys in this season?

Aikman: “Well… I just think that this year’s not a lot different than most years. I think that there just seems to always be a lot of discussion about this team that has very little to do with what’s happening on the field. I’m a believer that that stuff takes a toll. It goes back to the start of the season. 

“With Ezekiel Elliott’s suspension — when was it going to occur? Could they push it into next year? That went on and on and on and on. I think that created some distraction — a bit of doubt for a staff putting together game plans and things of that nature. So I think that was part of it.

“And of course, the whole situation with the commissioner and, you know, there was a number of things that had very little to do with what was happening on the field. 

“I don’t think the organization did a very good job of preparing for when the suspension took place.

“You had Darren McFadden on this roster — I’m not sure why. I thought, in the event that there was a suspension — not to say you can’t change your plans. Lots of things come up during a season that you go then in a different direction. I don’t think they were prepared there.

“And then when they went into Atlanta… when they were playing pretty good football — I think they had won three-in-a-row at that time if I’m not mistaken… were doing some good things offensively. They lose Tyron Smith — it’s one thing not to anticipate the problems going into a game, but in-game adjustments in that game were not good and they seemed to never quite recover from that situation. And then they were out of sync.

“They didn’t have any big play ability. It’s hard to score points when you’re not creating big plays, whether it’s in the running game or passing game. And it all kind of snowballed on them. And unfortunately for them, they were playing in a year where it was going to take 10 wins and that’s not typically… not that you don’t anticipate needing 10 wins, but that not having 10 wins would keep you out of the postseason either. It was one of those rare years where it was a pretty competitive conference.”

Crystal Palace are braced to be without their captain and vice-captain, Jason Puncheon and Scott Dann, for the remainder of the season after both players suffered suspected cruciate knee ligament damage in the goalless draw with Manchester City.

Both players sustained their injuries while bringing down Kevin de Bruyne –they were each booked for their indiscretions – in Sunday’s stalemate. Dann, who has been in impressive form over recent weeks and had been Palace’s regular captain under Roy Hodgson with Puncheon out of the team, brought down the Belgian just after the quarter-hour mark on the edge of the home side’s penalty area and fell awkwardly with the Belgian’s weight on his right knee.

The centre-half was taken from the field on a stretcher with Hodgson confirming afterwards that he feared Dann had indeed sustained a “serious injury”. Both Dann and Puncheon are due to undergo scans this week once the swelling on their joints has subsided but early indications are that they have each suffered cruciate damage.

Puncheon, a late substitute at Selhurst Park, had attempted to stop De Bruyne countering in the immediate aftermath of Luka Milivojevic’s missed penalty in stoppage time, with his crude challenge leaving both players on the turf. Puncheon and De Bruyne both departed on stretchers, for all that they were able to limp assisted down the touchline and back into the dressing-rooms after the match. While Pep Guardiola suggested that the Belgian will definitely miss Tuesday’s game against Watford – adding that Gabriel Jesus will be out for at least a month with a knee injury he sustained in the same game – Palace now fear being without their own midfielder – a fringe player in recent weeks – for the remainder of the campaign.

Palace had intended to pursue a goalkeeper, midfielder and centre-forward – their England Under-21s forward, Connor Wickham, has not played since November 2016 after suffering his own cruciate knee ligament injury and remains some way off full fitness – during the mid-winter transfer window but may now reassess their strategy in the wake of the injuries, particularly at the back.

Mamadou Sakho and Joel Ward are both absent at present recovering from calf injuries, leaving Martin Kelly and James Tomkins at centre-half for Tuesday’s game at Southampton, with the veteran Damien Delaney in reserve. The young Manchester United loanee, Timothy Fosu-Mensah, and the former Ajax utility player, Jairo Riedewald, could provide cover at centre-half if required.

Puncheon, 31, is due to appear before Guildford Magistrates’ court on 5 January after being charged with a Section 4 public order offence – causing fear or provocation of violence, possession of an offensive weapon and common assault – after an alleged incident in Reigate, Surrey, in the small hours of 17 December.