Report: MLB informs teams to plan for no universal DH in 2021

It seems some things will return to normal in Major League Baseball next season.

MLB instructed clubs in a memo last week to operate under the assumption that there won't be a designated hitter in the National League during the 2021 campaign, The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal reports.

No final decision has been made, and "few will complain if the league and union reach agreement to the contrary," Rosenthal adds.

Some teams, including the San Francisco Giants, have already approached the offseason as though there won't be a DH in the NL next season.

Commissioner Rob Manfred said in October that MLB will return to "status quo" in terms of the extra-inning rule, seven-inning doubleheaders, and universal DH, absent an agreement with the MLBPA.

MLB adopted the universal DH rule during a 2020 campaign that was shortened to 60 games due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.