Staff report

With hopes fading for a 2020 minor league baseball season, MLB teams are releasing a wave of players from their organizations.

Minor league teams don’t have TV revenues and are reliant on the fans who buy tickets and merchandise at games and consume concessions.

Hundreds of minor leaguers were pared from rosters on Thursday. Some organizations cut 50 players. Hundreds more are expected to lose their jobs soon.

Minor leaguers have been receiving a stipend of $400 week during April and May for missed games.

The cuts come as teams seek to reduce and eliminate costs with the prospect of a significantly shortened MLB season. Teams also are implementing pay cuts for normal employees and have begun laying off front-office and game-day workers.

It was earlier announced that the June MLB draft will last just five rounds, instead of the normal 40.

Even before the coronavirus pandemic,  MLB planned to contract about 25 percent of the minor league teams before the 2021 season.