OK, so there is no love lost between MLB and the MLBPA. No doubt there will be worse days ahead next year as they start to negotiate the next CBA. But at least on paper we can now look forward to a 60-game season plus the post-season assuming COVID-19 does not interfere come the Fall. SU has a few questions for you:
- Clearly, 60 games vs. 162 games requires a whole different strategy for managers and GMs. Also, an accelerated spring training means you don’t want to burn out your big gun starters in July and August. SU says this favors the teams with the strong bullpens. Guys like Gerret Cole will be huge in October but you don’t want to mess them up with too many innings in the regular season.
- While a 60-game season is very short, it also means that managers can’t just blow off games by having starters chew up innings in lost cause games. You need to get off to a good start to the season and every game matters. It really does.
- What is the over/under for the number of games that Giancarlo Stanton plays? SU puts it at 15. He will immediately get injured in spring training in early July and then come back in September for the playoffs.
- The big wild card is COVID-19 and what happens if key guys test positive at any point in the season. Btw, as a public service announcement from SU for the President, the “19” stands for the year 2019. Sluggers can easily be replaced but your top starting pitchers can’t and being out for 14 days in October is the difference between winning and losing. SU says teams need to really quarantine these guys in October – as in not having them in the dugout for games they are not starting and locking them in their apartments. Seriously. And no more home run hugs in the dugouts.
- Should there be a Cy Young or an MVP this year? Does a starter who goes 8-1 deserve an award? SU says not.
Meanwhile, as a follow-up to the tennis tournament played in the Baltics the last 2 weeks, now Djokovic, his trainer, his wife, and 2 other ATP players have all tested positive. So did the the Denver Nuggets star, Nikola Jokic, who attended the tournament in Belgrade. What a mess.
The Yankees and Dodgers are the favorites to win it all from the Vegas experts. The challenge for the Yankees is how to squeeze in all of their injuries in a 60-game season. It will be interesting to see how the ratings are. MLB lost a lot of fan goodwill over the past several weeks. But fans are desperate.
So, any thoughts on the upcoming season? We know long-time subscriber, S. Long, thinks there won’t be a season, and he may be right. Anyone excited?
Sports Update Intergalactic 
Will be interesting to see what the viewing fan’s interest is in a game played in complete silence (or do the organists still play the batter’s favorite song when he comes to the plate? Is there an organist at all?). No one watches spring training games on TV so if that’s what they feel like you have to wonder.
No, they will definitely be pumping in crowd noise and music. There must be plenty of NBA teams that have been doing that for years in their arenas. I am sure the broadcasters will get creative with this. The good news is that no longer will opposing team home runs be thrown back on the field, and unlikely to have drunken fans running onto the field. They should mike the umpires and coaches – that would be more interesting. But they are going to run into the NFL games and college football (hopefully) and it remains to be seen which games fans will be interested in watching.
Quiet stadiums with pumped in noise and music. Sounds just like going to Yankee Stadium.
Wonder what happens if during the whole season an almost an entire team tests positive? Assume they forfeit many games. Yes this season is going to be complicated.
Dave, my sense is that MLB will allow the teams to have very expanded rosters with the ability to add minor league players in order to avoid any forfeits of games. That would have to be an extreme/last resort scenario although you are right that it could happen. You can envision teams slotting players on and off the roster for alternate games in some cases. Not a good year for comparing year over year stats I am sure.