COVID-19 impact on MLB season

[jerichoholicninja]

I wouldn't be surprised at all if a pretty significant contingent of players were very careful for this shortened season. I'm specifically looking at contract year guys and pitchers. I'm not going to say they'll mail it in, but they'll do their best to mitigate the risk of significant injury in such a short season. Maybe some pitchers only pitch with 90% effort and focus on their mechanics to not overstress anything. You think Betts is going to try for diving catches?

 

Pitching is a different animal due to the evolution of an arm over the course of a normal season so something like that wouldn't surprise me. Outfielders diving for balls, yes I expect to see that, because 99% of the players are competitors before businessmen and they got where they are by being better than the best.

 

Pitchers maybe but everyone else...what's the difference between getting hurt during a 162 game season vs a 60 game season?

[Eye Black]

From @MLBRandomStats (Jeremy Frank)...

 

Hardest 2020 Strength of Schedules in NL based on 2019 records

 

.534 Marlins

.531 Padres

.530 Rockies

.523 Giants

.515 Diamondbacks

.509 Phillies

.504 Mets

.502 Pirates

.497 Nationals

.496 Reds

.493 Dodgers

.492 Braves

.487 Cubs

.482 Brewers

.480 Cardinals

 

 

It’s based on 10 games vs each divisional opponent and 4 vs each interleague opponent in opposite division (i.e. vs AL Central for Brewers).

 

Jon Heyman reported the following regarding the schedules...

 

Plan is for teams to play 40 games in division and 20 games interleague with their geographic counterpart (East vs. East, etc.) #MLB

[folly412]

 

I don't know if it'll translate well to MLB, but I've actually enjoyed the runner on second rule in MiLB in practice.

 

Aware that it's just a measure for this season, but perhaps it can surprise me twice.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I'm all for the runner on 2nd permanently. The games are too long as it is. The drawbacks of winning a game in the 14th are significant. I know baseball has purists but the game is in dire need of modernization as a 21st century televised product. Making games accessible is issue one but the broadcast has issues too.

[brewerfan82]

I'll be interested in seeing how they make up the schedule if it really is 10 games vs. each division opponent and 4 games vs. each interleague opponent. There will have to be some very unconventional things going on for that to work...

 

10 games vs. each division opponent - So is this a 5 game home series and a 5 game away series against each team? Otherwise they have to break it into 3- and 2-game series, which I thought they were trying to avoid the short series. Or do they not worry about having equal home/away games against each team so they can have series of 3, 3, and 4 games?

 

4 games vs. each interleague opponent - To avoid the 2 game series, they can have 4-game series against 4 of the 5 teams, but then they'll need to split up the 5th one to ensure equal home/away games. Unless again they're not worried about keeping things equal and they make up the unbalanced home/away games somehow in the games against division opponents.

 

Also if the schedule is made up of mainly 4 and 5 game series, I guess the traditional Friday/Saturday/Sunday series is out the window as well.

 

All that said, I guess without crowds to accommodate and all sorts of other goofiness going on, maybe it doesn't even matter if home/away games are split up evenly, etc. anyways

[areacodes]

I'll be interested in seeing how they make up the schedule if it really is 10 games vs. each division opponent and 4 games vs. each interleague opponent. There will have to be some very unconventional things going on for that to work...

 

10 games vs. each division opponent - So is this a 5 game home series and a 5 game away series against each team? Otherwise they have to break it into 3- and 2-game series, which I thought they were trying to avoid the short series. Or do they not worry about having equal home/away games against each team so they can have series of 3, 3, and 4 games?

 

4 games vs. each interleague opponent - To avoid the 2 game series, they can have 4-game series against 4 of the 5 teams, but then they'll need to split up the 5th one to ensure equal home/away games. Unless again they're not worried about keeping things equal and they make up the unbalanced home/away games somehow in the games against division opponents.

 

Also if the schedule is made up of mainly 4 and 5 game series, I guess the traditional Friday/Saturday/Sunday series is out the window as well.

 

All that said, I guess without crowds to accommodate and all sorts of other goofiness going on, maybe it doesn't even matter if home/away games are split up evenly, etc. anyways

 

Couldn’t they just alternate the home/away team? Have a four game series between the Brewers/Twins at Miller Park with the Brewers being the home team for two and the Twins for two. With no fans in the stands, the main advantage will be what team is batting in the bottom half of the inning.

[brewerfan82]

That's a good call, that would make sense to me!

[AZBrewCrew]

What’s the plan for rainouts?

[MrTPlush]

Let’s not ignore the biggest obstacle still exists: COVID-19

 

This circus of trying to have a season is far from over.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Let’s not ignore the biggest obstacle still exists: COVID-19

 

This circus of trying to have a season is far from over.

 

Who is ignoring COVID-19? Choosing to see optimism in a potential season doesn't mean people are forgetting that the pandemic is still going on.

[MrTPlush]

Let’s not ignore the biggest obstacle still exists: COVID-19

 

This circus of trying to have a season is far from over.

 

Who is ignoring COVID-19? Choosing to see optimism in a potential season doesn't mean people are forgetting that the pandemic is still going on.

 

It’s just a comment, let’s not make it more than it is. I would be curious of the plans if and when people test positive...especially if an entire team gets hit hard. There is little wiggle room in the schedule for anything to go wrong, even a bunch of rainouts would be bad.

[DuWayne Steurer]

3 Rockies players have now tested positive.

[PeaveyFury]

Any word on a trade deadline?

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Any word on a trade deadline?

 

Trade deadline is Aug. 31, per a story Ken Rosenthal posted at The Athletic this morning.

[Eye Black]

I thought the 20 inter league games would be even (4 each against the 5 teams in the AL Central), but that apparently isn’t the case. The Brewers will reportedly play the Twins 6 times according to Jayson Stark (see below for excerpt from this ARTICLE).

 

 

VERSUS INTERLEAGUE DIVISION: Each club will play a total of 20 games against the corresponding interleague division (i.e., East versus East, Central versus Central, West versus West). Six of those games would be against a team’s interleague “rival” (Yankees-Mets, Cubs-White Sox, etc.). The breakdown of the other 14 games has yet to be finalized, but is expected to involve each team playing two interleague opponents three times apiece and the other two clubs four times apiece.

[Eye Black]

To expand that further the 6 games a piece for the NL Central teams would be:

 

Brewers - Twins

Cardinals - Royals

Cubs - White Sox

Reds - Indians

Pirates - Tigers

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

To expand that further the 6 games a piece for the NL Central teams would be:

 

Brewers - Twins

Cardinals - Royals

Cubs - White Sox

Reds - Indians

Pirates - Tigers

 

The Cardinals get the dumpster-fire Royals ... because of course they do.

[brewerfan82]

Interesting. With a shortened schedule, no fans, regionally contained travel, and nothing else to compete with scheduling events at the stadiums, you'd think this would be an ideal scenario to make schedules as even as possible (ie. everyone has the same number of games against each opponent, equal home/away games against each opponent, etc.), but I guess they're just going to make it uneven for fun, lol.

[KeithStone53151]

I wouldn't be surprised at all if a pretty significant contingent of players were very careful for this shortened season. I'm specifically looking at contract year guys and pitchers. I'm not going to say they'll mail it in, but they'll do their best to mitigate the risk of significant injury in such a short season. Maybe some pitchers only pitch with 90% effort and focus on their mechanics to not overstress anything. You think Betts is going to try for diving catches?

 

Pitching is a different animal due to the evolution of an arm over the course of a normal season so something like that wouldn't surprise me. Outfielders diving for balls, yes I expect to see that, because 99% of the players are competitors before businessmen and they got where they are by being better than the best.

 

Pitchers maybe but everyone else...what's the difference between getting hurt during a 162 game season vs a 60 game season?

 

We will see. The difference being they are getting paid 1/3 salary with other added risks. Hopefully that's not the case, we will see.

[tmwiese55]

Would've thought the priority would be getting one series vs every league team before interleague. So I was surprised by that, but they're making the best of it. I guess it's kind of good for us with the AL Central being bad as well, sure the Sox should be improved a bit but Cleveland should have come down a little.

[CheezWizHed]

You know what will be kind of hilarious? When the first bench clearing brawl is about to take place and someone jumps in and reminds them that they can't do that because of social distancing requirements.

 

 

What in the world am I seeing here???

[CheezWizHed]

I wouldn't be surprised at all if a pretty significant contingent of players were very careful for this shortened season. I'm specifically looking at contract year guys and pitchers. I'm not going to say they'll mail it in, but they'll do their best to mitigate the risk of significant injury in such a short season. Maybe some pitchers only pitch with 90% effort and focus on their mechanics to not overstress anything. You think Betts is going to try for diving catches?

 

Pitching is a different animal due to the evolution of an arm over the course of a normal season so something like that wouldn't surprise me. Outfielders diving for balls, yes I expect to see that, because 99% of the players are competitors before businessmen and they got where they are by being better than the best.

 

Pitchers maybe but everyone else...what's the difference between getting hurt during a 162 game season vs a 60 game season?

 

Yeah, I was wondering why short season vs. long season was a problem... I'd think you'd have less fatigue injuries over a short season.

 

Plus, taking a year "off" means the pitcher has to shake off the rust and get the "feel" back. This isn't beer-league softball. These guys are the top 1% of all players (or less). Come back a little "less" than you were and you are out of baseball.

 

Also, if I'm signing a FA and someone took off this year, I'd question his commitment to the game and I wouldn't be signing him to a big deal.

[monty57]

Let’s not ignore the biggest obstacle still exists: COVID-19

 

This circus of trying to have a season is far from over.

 

Who is ignoring COVID-19? Choosing to see optimism in a potential season doesn't mean people are forgetting that the pandemic is still going on.

 

It’s just a comment, let’s not make it more than it is. I would be curious of the plans if and when people test positive...especially if an entire team gets hit hard. There is little wiggle room in the schedule for anything to go wrong, even a bunch of rainouts would be bad.

 

I read that there will be an injured list specifically for COVID, with no minimum or maximum time frame. So, if someone "shows signs" (i.e. has a temperature, coughing, etc.), the team can put them on the list. If it turns out to be negative, they can put them right back on the team. Conversely, if someone tests positive they can be on the IR for however long is necessary.

 

They are allowing teams 60 players to use for the season, so hopefully a team doesn't get hit so hard as to not have enough players for a game. An outbreak could lead to a team using an inordinate amount of minor leaguers, but that's still probably better than just scrapping the season.

 

Interesting about the potential to have a bunch of 5-game series. Having a deep staff becomes even more important, as teams can't stack their top pitchers against rivals like the Cubs do with Quintana against the Bewers. A 5-game series means that you should see the opposition's entire rotation, so some weak links in the rotation could be amplified.

 

Warts and all, I'm happy to see that baseball's back!!

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I think that would have been chaotic with many of those teams nowhere close to each other. The Brewers are very close to all of their opponents with the exception of maybe Pitt, who still isn't that far away. This will avoid the scenario where you're in LA and then Philly 2 days later. The logistics of making that equitable give me a headache just thinking about it. Geography was probably the way to go. Sucks for teams like Seattle though that really aren't that close to anyone.

[CheezWizHed]

How does "being close" really help health and safety? Teams charter their own planes, so I question why flying 1 or 3 hours really makes a difference. I can see limiting what teams meet so you are only exposed to a limited set of people.