The Panama Baseball Federation (FEDEBEIS) has approved special rules for the 2020 edition of the tournament.
The 77th season of the Panamanian Baseball Championship will open on 9 October with eight participating teams. The teams will stay in a 'bubble' and will have to follow strict safety and sanitary protocols throughout the season in Panama, where baseball is the national sport of the Central American country.
On 14 September, all eight teams opened their training camps. In the lead-up to the training camps, FEDEBEIS administered 210 COVID-19 tests, all of them coming back negative.
Under Lockdown
Players and coaches will be limited to an isolated bubble environment, with strong sanctions to those who break the social distancing rules. In all, more than 1,400 tests will be carried out along the season.
The eight teams have been split into two groups for the 2020 season. Group A will be played by Coclé, Metro, Herrera and Colón, while Group B features Bocas del Toro, Chiriquí, Panamá Oeste and Los Santos.
Among new rules, a WBSC-style international tiebreaker will be in place for the 2020 season, with runners on first and second base to start each extra inning.
Each squad will play a triple round-robin against the teams of the same group, and will face the teams of the other group once. The top four teams will advance to a best-of-seven semi-final series.
Currently, Panama is the 12th-ranked nation in the WBSC Baseball World Rankings, two points ahead of 13th-ranked Canada.