With the start of the MLB season supposedly just eight days away is it time to finally get excited about the return of baseball?
An empty Wrigley Field is a Bus(c)h Stadium sellout.
With no fans in the stands, a lack of pitchers batting in the National League and a ridiculous extra innings gimmick, things are going to be weird, but that’s not why we’ve all been slow to crank up our excitement. It’s baseball, and we miss it, but in the back of our minds there’s a very real fear that the resurgence of the Coronavirus might either shorten the season or keep it from getting off hte ground altogether.
But, what fun is it to dwell on the worst that could happen? Let’s look ahead to what, if it all comes together will be a wild, race to the playoffs with only 60 games to get in. One prolonged slump, one key injury, one nine-walk Tyler Chatwood appearance, could take a team right out of it.
Then, there’s the idea that whoever wins this season didn’t really win anything. Imagine if you’re the Rangers, Mariners, or Padres, and you have never won a World Series. Would winning this one really mean you finally fulfilled your wildest dreams? How about the Indians, sitting on a 72 year championship drought? Does going 32-28 and then getting through the playoffs even count?
Would winning in Houston this year mean Dusty Baker finally won it all for real? No. I say that mostly because he’s Dusty. Screw that guy. And, especially screw that franchise.
But, given that the Cubs have now finally ended their stupefying championshiplessness, if they win it this year I’m sure as hell going to count that as being just as legit as the other three World Series they’ve won.
Some people are already complaining that a guy will hit .400 this year and somehow besmirch Ted Williams’ legacy. You can’t even qualify for a real batting title in 60 games, there’s no way doing that this year will make for anything but. trivia answer.
I remember as a kid seeing that Shawon Dunston hit .400 in 1993 and wondering why that wasn’t a bigger deal.1We get exhibition games next week, all three of the Cubs’ games will be broadcast on Marquee, which means that about 14 of us will be able to actually see them.
But stuff starts for real on July 23, and the next day for the Cubs. In fact, breaking odds for Week 1 of baseball are already available. One stand out game is the Cubs (-117) who are slightly favored to Milwaukee (-104). The Cubs have yet to name an Opening Day starter, but the way Yu Darvish and Kyle Hendricks have looked in “summer camp” they can hardly go wrong either way. And, having an idiot proof decision for David Ross to make seems like a necessity.
The season will start with 30-man rosters, which is meant to protect pitchers, but instead will end up with early season games taking forever with all the pitching changes, and that makes little sense given that they tweaked the extra inning rules (by putting a runner on second to start every half inning) to shorten games in order to cut down on the length of exposure players have to each other.
And, the fact that Joe West is a COVID-denier should be the least shocking thing of the year. The guy is basically a walking pre-existing condition. If anybody should be concerned the most about all of this it’s him, and instead he’s just…so Joe West about it.
Regardless, when baseball comes back, no matter how long or short the run is, we’ll be watching.