By: Mike Carter
I hope you and yours are all faring well during the summer of pandemic. Do you have baseball fever yet? Or are you lukewarm in your enthusiasm for the coming 60 game in 66 day schedule?
I am trying to contain my excitement over the coming games, knowing that there is growing pessimism that the season will actually begin July 23rd, or that the season may even reach completion at all.
That being said, what are some things we might see during this unprecedented season?
Here are a list of things you might have forgotten or not seen due to other pressing needs in your life:
• The three divisions in each league will play based on geography and the desire to have teams travel less to avoid the spread of the Covid-19. In terms of the schedule breakdown, each of MLB’s 30 teams will play ten games against their division rivals. That gives your forty games in your division. The other twenty games will be played against the opposing division in the other league, thus creating an interleague schedule. For example, the American League Central will play the National League Central in those other twenty games. This was done to create less travel for teams; each team will only play nine opponents this year instead of the traditional 19 or 20, staying in their region. This arrangement gets you the 60 game schedule.
• Playoffs remain the same: three division winners and two Wild Cards in each league. The Wild Card is still simply a one-game playoff to advance to the next round. I love the Wild Card, but feel this should be a best of three series. Maybe it will be down the road. But for 2020, it is business as usual for the playoffs….except that MLB reserves the right to move the playoffs should there be a Covid-19 outbreak. You could see the World Series played at a neutral site.
• There will be a universal designated hitter in BOTH leagues this year. I am relieved to not have to watch pitchers hit in the National League or interleague games. It’s not a point of strategy anymore as the game has changed the last decade. Pitchers hit .115 in 2018. Do you want to see automatic outs? To add, starter innings pitched are on the decline, and managers are pinch hitting for pitchers more than ever. It’s time for the universal DH. I do not want to see pitchers hit ever again. While many enjoy the novelty of Bartolo Colon hitting a home run, or suggesting that some pitchers can hit (Madison Bumgarner, Zach Greinke, Shohei Ohtani), the story is in the statistics. The vast majority of pitchers are automatic outs.
• Extra-inning games will begin the 10th inning, and each subsequent inning, with a runner on second base. With the rule instituted in the minor leagues the last two years, 93% of games ended within two innings. Like it or not, there is a push to shorten games. Traditionalists won’t like this or some of the other changes, but it will be intriguing to see how this plays into strategy. With more players on the roster, it might pay to have a speed merchant (think guys like Jarrod Dyson, Billy Hamilton and Tony Kemp) on your bench for this extra inning situation. In a 60 game season, every game will have significance, and teams will examine every way that they can carry some advantage. I don’t mind this change, and that is because in this sprint of a season, why not try something new? With only six off days all season, teams do not want to be playing at 2 AM on a Wednesday when they need to travel to the next town. Games will need to end. Think of how a 17 inning game could impact a team for weeks; think of the moves that a team needs to make later in the week when they play one of these never-ending games.
• The three minimum batter rule also will be in play for the 2020 season. Pitchers must face a minimum of three hitters or pitch to the end of the half-inning. This impacts strategy deeply. The premium placed on relief pitching will be higher than ever. This rule change will eliminate the manager making pitching changes after each hitter as happens often late in games. Utilizing the bullpen in the left-right fashion, with the one out specialist, now will look different. Think of a high-powered left handed relief pitcher like Andrew Miller. He has made his career by being able to get left-handed hitters out at a high clip. Miller had thirteen appearances last year where he pitched to one batter and then exited the game. That is not allowed any longer. How will manager Mike Schildt use him this year? Managers will also look more at lineup construction; I think many might be more likely to go right-left-right-left in their lineups to scuttle other teams’ bullpen plans and negate a bullpen specialist. This will be really interesting to watch this year. Teams with deeper bullpens like the San Diego Padres and the Houston Astros might have a significant advantage.
• Many teams are gauging how they are going to handle their starting pitchers in this Spring Training 2.0. Will some teams use six man rotations? Will some only use four man rotations? Will teams use “openers” more to be replaced by a bulk reliever? Will teams only allow their starters to pitch 3-4 innings initially? These are questions that each team will have to weigh and answer. I would look for those teams with experienced starters to ride those veterans this year, given that most starters will likely only get 12-14 starts. Can’t you just see Davy Martinez riding his trio of Scherzer, Strasburg and Corbin as much as possible? I do. And the opposite could be true; teams with younger arms, like the Atlanta Braves, might limit their guys by adding an extra starter or using relievers more liberally. Teams that are not expected to compete, like the Seattle Mariners, might really experiment with their pitching this year. None of us know what will happen. But I guarantee you I will be watching, and that I will have opinions.
• I can understand why fans do not want to see changes to the game of baseball. But, if just for a moment, change your perspective of this. I have long criticized MLB for their lack of promotion and marketing of the game’s top players. Have you seen the newest MLB commercial featuring Christian Yelich, Mookie Betts, Mike Trout, Tim Anderson, Aaron Judge, and Gerrit Cole, among others? It’s a good commercial. But why have I only seen it three times? Should they not be saturating the market right now with this? Many people are home, watching TV, looking for something to do. The league does a woeful job exposing young kids to this great game. The fan base is aging and my greatest fear is that the game will continue to dwindle in popularity due to lack of marketing and thus loss of interest. If we do not get out children interested in the game, and its marketable superstars, the game is doomed. MLB has to show more games on TV, has to interact with young fans more, reach into inner cities and chronically underserved neighborhoods, and simply do more than they are doing. There are unbelievable talents that kids never get to see in this game. It’s a travesty and a crime.
• The labor strife between the players and owners has not helped in any way. It’s easy to toss off the “it’s billionaires versus millionaires trying to split up big money,” but that is simplistic, and the truth is that this is a much deeper issue. The mistrust may be at an all-time high. I don’t put much faith in the owners; many will not share their finances with anyone, and we are expected to take their word for it that they are losing money. I do not buy it; sure, in this year, everyone in America is losing money. But it’s difficult to feel sorry for them when every team except the Miami Marlins made money in 2019. Even harder when you realize that long-term owners have profited millions upon millions on the work of their players and their employees, in some cases, for decades. I never begrudge a player getting their money; if someone is willing to overpay for your services, or pay market value, how is that a player’s fault? The shelf-life of a player is short in most cases, and I never criticize a player for getting paid. I am notoriously pro player on this.
What are your thoughts on the upcoming season? So many opinions and it is really fun to speculate. What do you think? Leave your comments here and let’s chat!