60 Game MLB Season to Start 7/23
Mates,
This just came across the wire, they reached an agreement to play baseball in the majors. Camp to start 7/1, games to start 7/23, 60 game season, same 10 team playoff.
I wonder what happens when players test positive, hopefully not much in terms of health or derailment of the league.
I also wonder what will happen to TV viewership. It occurs that folks might be so starved for viewing that the ratings are through the roof.
Here's to a successful MLB season. I guess a 'Go Tigers!' is in order, except that they are the Tigers.
Link to ESPN article with more details: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29354014/sources-mlbpa-agrees-report-july-1-discussing-health-safety-protocols
Hope you are well.
XM
The schedule is interesting. So the Tigers play the Royals, Twins, White Sox, and Indians 10 times and then 4 against the Brewers, Cardinals, Pirates, Cubs, and Reds. Kind of cool to have it all be local.
What isn't totally clear to me is how the 10 teams for the playoffs are chosen. If it's the same as usual it is kind of weird that the are competing for two wild card spots with 10 teams they never play (AL East and AL West).
This is a really favorable way of scheduling for the playoff-tier teams in the Central divisions. The Indians, Twins, Cardinals, Brewers and Cubs are all good teams, but there are no elite teams in either division imo. Closest would have to be the Twins. Plus you have some real bottom feeders in Detroit, KC and Pittsburgh. Three of the five worst teams in MLB last year in run differential.
I expect the White Sox to win the Central. They have been accumulating talent for a while. Twins are going to drop off this year Cleveland dumped salary. KC and Det will still suck out loud.
Nope, they aren’t close to Twins talent yet.
60 baseball games just about any team can win their division.
It's basically same as every team tied going into August in a normal year
Really like the White Sox lineup, but still have some questions about pitching, specifically the rotation. I like the Keuchel addition, and they have a ton of young arm talent, but not enough established for me to expect them to win the Central. Guess I won't be shocked if they do, especially in a shortened season that could get whacky.
Yep, teams competing for the Wild Cards will literally have zero common opponents (unless they happen to be from the same Division).
They should just have eight teams in the playoffs. The one-game wild card thing doesn't make a lot of sense here.
I didnt read the article super closely, but I didnt see any mention of stadium attendance policies- is that something that the individual venues are going to have to make decisions about themselves?
(Insert obvious jokes about MLB stadium attendance not meriting additional distancing measures between fans har har)
Unless a miracle happens in science sometime soon, its going to be played in empty stadiums. Thats the whole reason baseball hasn't come back sooner. Owners and players were fighting over how to split the reduced revenue pool that comes with fanless games.
That's what I figure. It's going to be interesting to see how that plays out, since they're the first major American sports league to have concrete plans to get rolling again.
I wouldn't say there are concrete plans established yet. They are very much ''building the plane while it is flying'' still.
I want to be excited, but the negotiations were such a crap fest it eliminated all my give-a-fuck and I LOVE baseball. I'd say I'd hope they learned something useful in preparations for the next CBA, but I'm hopeful, not stupid.
Through 60 games last year, the tigers were 17.5 games back of Twins. I will be watching (mostly for Fantasy implications) but I'm not quite sure the shorter season is going to give the Tigers that much more of a chance to reach the postseason.
It won't. They're still terrible.
But I'll still watch.
One bright note to this season, is that the Tigers should be able to break in a lot of young talent without surpassing the rookie eligibility milestones.
What exactly is the situation for rookies and whether their "service clocks" start this year?
I was listening to the local drive-time guys "Big Drew and Jim" on ESPN radio Grand Rapids yesterday and they were saying that since everyone accrues a year of service, whether or not they play at the MLB level this season, the Tigers should play Riley Greene, Spence Torkleson, and their 3 top pitching prospects Mize, Skubal, and Manning this 60-game season to keep their development on track.
I'll watch the Tigers either way, but if those 5 potential stars are on the field, it would then become must-see TV for me.
Did a very quick search for a definitive answer on the service time thing and couldn't find an answer. Anybody have a link?
Socially distanced dugouts/locker rooms or just have the entire team live communally and isolated (even moreso than usual) during the season?
I have been craving baseball all year. Was super pissed off by all of the back and forth negotiations, but this shortened season should make for a very hectic and exciting playoff run. It's weird saying that when almost all of the other major sports regular seasons are close to that length, but yeah. Anyone is in it - Just need to get hot early.
I'm not a baseball guy at all. To me, there is nothing less important in sports than a MLB regular season game, what is normally just 0.62% of a season. The shortened season does give added importance to each game, and it's interesting what this does to bullpens. Normal starting rotations will see each pitcher get 12 starts for the entire season, which seems really low.
TBH nothing sounds better than a cold beer and a hot dog on a sunny day in Comerica. It'd be awesome if they are able to open up the stadium to fans at some point this season. They could implement a BYOB/Concessions like NASCAR to avoid unnecessary interaction with vendors. And sell blocks of seats staggered to keep groups separated. That has to beat zero ticket sales. Still doubt I'll watch many games on TV though.
Tigers are going to win the pennant because why not
If it actually happens I'm sure that TV viewership will be probably through the roof.
In another sport I have a feeling that day trippers and reddit boys are going have a rough remainder of the month as the big boys thank them for running it up.
? what other sport?
If you don't know, you don't know but that Barry Bonds was a great player
i realize that i am a dim wattage bulb, but i don't have the slightest clue what you are talking about. is this some allusion to bonds being on juice?
In one month you're telling me baseball will be played at teams stadiums across the country? MLB just closed facilities 1 week ago due to Corona. Wake me up in 2021.
It's probably going to help ratings because so many teams will be in contention. Especially if you aren't a particularly deep team but have a couple of top-line players, it's not crazy you can come out of the gates hot and make a run for a playoff spot.
At this point the Tigers are more likely to have the number 1 draft pick for 3 of the last 4 years, than they are making the playoffs.
Good.
Stuff like elite young talent leads to another open window of contention in the near future. I would much prefer we be garbage instead of mediocre.
Tigers are going 10-50.
26-34
they will start off 18-2, but still miss the playoffs
528 players will earn 100k or less
Interesting to say the least
I'll be honest - I can see why the players association fought so hard against some of these schedules given how much money their guys stood to lose.
for less than 3 months work, including camp?
SIGN.ME.UP.
That's not entirely true. Heyman's tweet was really misleading. Those players will earn $100k or less for the rest of the season only because they already received a $170 Million advance on their salaries in their March agreement.
Players earning league minimum will still make over $200k in total this year.
With 60 games, the regular season might actually be interesting.
that is what i'm thinking. its like army's strategy in football. long drives, fewer chances for a more talented team to get ahead/score, and maybe army gets by some good teams. could be the tigers this year. if nothing else, we won't have to spend the months glancing at the sport section with the tigers 45 games behind.
Can’t imagine a better opportunity to break Ted Williams’ .406 record than this season. With a big ‘ol asterisk, of course.
On an individual player basis, this is legit what I'm most looking forward to!
Last year, in the second half, White Sox SS Tim Anderson hit .357 (53 games, 81 H, 227 AB). 227 AB is such a small sample size that just ten more hits (over the course of 11 weeks) would have got him to .400.
And he's, you know, Tim Anderson.
Let’s goooooo Tigers!!!
Are they still doing spring training in FL and AZ?
Because that will be fun.
No, spring training (early summer training?) will be at the team's home cities.
That means the Tigers can't lose 100 games this season.
Will there be fans in the seats?
I don’t think this is going to happen. NY, NJ, and Connecticut just issued travel quarantines for out of state visitors. I don’t know how it could not apply to baseball players. People badly want sports, the players seemingly want sports, the fans certainly do, but I don’t think policy makers are going to allow it to happen.
Per a Mets beat writer on Twitter (Tim Healey) mlb players were exempted by cuomo.