Why baseball is entering a season of the unknown

Baseball makes you wait. That is part of its old world charm. The story takes time to reveal itself, step by step, entry by entry, game by game by … well, you understand the idea. Players face a rigorous six-month schedule, with few days off. No other professional athlete spends so many days performing.

So what will it be like now, after more than four months in hibernation since the coronavirus pandemic closed spring training in mid-March? We’ll find out on Thursday when Major League Baseball begins its 60-game schedule with two games: the Yankees at the Nationals in Washington and the Giants at the Dodgers in Los Angeles.

Prepare for rule changes, extensive security protocols, and many unknowns.

“It’s hard for those of us in baseball because we want to be informed about what’s going on,” said longtime broadcaster Jim Kaat, 81, who pitched for 25 seasons in the majors, “and sometimes the hardest part of saying is, “I don’t know. ‘”

Of course, no one knows exactly how a season will play out. But no one who has ever lived has seen a season like this, and not just because of the cardboard cutouts in the stands, the ban on spitting, the noise of the multitude of video games, and the looming specter of a virus still raging.

Baseball has not put together such a short timeline since 1878, when Providence, RI, had a team, New York did not, and the first World Series was still a generation away.

“After the first season of Major League Baseball, 1876, the New York and Philadelphia franchises were prevented from continuing to play because they were unable to complete their end-of-season road tours,” said John Thorn, the official MLB historian. “They thought it was not going to be profitable. So they were beaten and the National League had to fight.”

That fight resulted in a 60-game schedule, with teams playing five opponents 12 times each. This year’s fight reached the same number of games, after the players’ union and owners failed to reach a negotiated settlement, forcing Commissioner Rob Manfred to impose a schedule with players receiving prorated salaries.

The contentious labor confrontation, with sharp words between the league office and the union, sent ominous signals about future conflicts beyond this strange season. The collective agreement expires in December 2021, and the players are wary of giving more land to the owners.

“The challenges will expand even more next time, and we realize that,” said Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer, a member of the union’s executive subcommittee. “We love the game as much as anyone, and we want to see its growth continue in the best possible way. But you can’t work across the aisle until everyone is working alongside you properly. If you start to have divisions, no matter what the other side is doing, you are fighting against yourself.

“We really got to see what it’s like to have guys working together, not just on our team but throughout the league.”

The players’ unity, strengthened during the job matchup, will be tested this season for a shared responsibility to adhere to safety protocols. Players are required to wear masks while indoors, avoid hitting fists and fists, using their own soap in the shower, etc.

Unlike the NBA, NHL, and MLS, baseball is giving up a contained or “bubble” vibe, and almost all teams will play at their normal home stadium (the Toronto Blue Jays are still struggling to find a place in the U.S). The league has limited travel by keeping all games within the same geographic divisions and establishing a clubhouse and extra space to promote social distancing.

But away from the field, players are largely alone, reliable in avoiding prohibited actions like eating in public restaurants and taking public transportation for games. If a player slips, he could contract the virus and threaten his team’s season.

“You have to be the best version of yourself, the best teammate you have ever had,” said Joe Maddon, the manager of the Los Angeles Angels. “That’s what we need: more than a guy who can take a hit in the last part of a game or a pitcher who could throw a couple of innings without a score, we need the guy who complies with protocol and allows us to play this all. year “.

Maddon and his fellow managers will have expanded their rosters for much of the season: 30 players for the first two weeks, 28 for the next two weeks, and finally 26. Additional entries will begin with a runner at second base to encourage scoring. and avoid marathon games; the designated hitter will be used at all times; and games suspended before five innings will continue, not played in full.

But perhaps the biggest change is simply the urgency of a schedule that is only 37 percent of usual time. Each game will essentially count 2.7 times, relative to a 162 game schedule, so each game is roughly the equivalent of a three-game series.

“I think you’re going to see more playoff attitude management, where it’s a little bit more assertive,” Maddon said. “Probably the best way to describe it is more aggressive decision making early in the game rather than what you would do in the first few months of the regular season.”

Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell, known for frequently changing pitchers, said in-game decisions may not change much. But you can adjust playing time, giving players who are struggling a little room.

“Hot hands and depression, we’re all going to pay a little more attention to that,” Counsell said.

Counsell has heard the theory that pitchers could dominate this season because hitters have gone more than three months without facing pitchers in game situations. But with some teams having 16 or more pitchers to start the season, he said, there will surely be plenty that aren’t really ready for the majors.

“If you have an average of two missing men, on the disabled list or whatever, you already have the No. 18 pitcher on staff,” Counsell said. “You’ll have to use all of the team’s pitchers at the beginning of the season, and for me, that could create a scoring environment.”

Pitchers who can launch multiple entries multiple times a week may be even more valuable if managers are reluctant to push headlines after such a long layoff. However, the potential for an evening pitcher parade may not be the best for a product that is already facing criticism for its slow pace.

“It really points to the desire I’ve had for a couple of years to have seven-inning games, because some of these games are likely to drag on,” said Kaat, who once pitched more than 300 innings in one season. . “It will not be a good image for the game on television. People are eager to see baseball, but it can seem like spring training, where you’re seeing a new pitcher every inning or so. “

Regardless of the prevailing trends, a short season could produce statistical outliers. No player has hit .400 since Ted Williams in 1941, and Bob Gibson’s 1.12 RBI has been a record since 1968. But Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger entered his team’s 50th game last season with an average. .404, and Jack of the Cardinals. Flaherty had a 0.92 ERA in his team’s last 60 games.

Could the record book get a big rewrite after this season? Officially, Thorn said, any record set this season will be legitimate.

“Sure,” he said. “We don’t do asterisks. Fans are free to apply asterisks generously. They can see the records and results they want. That is one of the privileges and pleasures of fandom. “

The most important thing, Thorn said, is understanding the context of the season. Circumstances have seldom stalled in baseball, with integration, expansion, team changes, training advances, stadium setups, and the use of steroids and technology, both legal and illegal, influencing what we see.

The 2020 season will offer its own distinctive wrinkle in the structure of the sport, unless the virus undoes it all.

“There is a stranger, obviously, who could completely change the seasons of some teams,” Counsell said. “We all recognize that through no one’s fault, a team’s season could really sink. That’s the scariest thing for everyone this year, but we all know it’s part of it, so we have to go for it. ”