Short season in short: Different, no question
Though it was never made easy, baseball will be back this summer.
Tuesday, the MLB Players Association notified MLB that its members had agreed to report to spring training July 1, with the hope that the season can begin July 23 or July 24. That’s the long and short of it, and it’s the only part that matters. The rest either already has been figured out or will be figured out.
Still, there are pressing questions that fans surely have pertaining to what the season will look like, so here’s an attempt to centralize those questions and hopefully provide answers for the more pressing ones.
• How long will the season be? Sixty games. This was, as many know, the main haggling point for most of this negotiating saga. Once everyone understood that the players would only play games if they received their full prorated salaries for the season, the question then became: for how many fully prorated games are the owners willing to pay?
At the end, the players wanted 70, the owners wanted fewer, and we will get 60, running through Sept. 27, with the postseason ideally starting from there.
• Who will the Pirates play? Forty of the
Pirates’ 60 games will be played against their divisional foes. So 10 games each against the Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals. The other 20 will be played against AL Central opponents — the Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals and Minnesota Twins.
How exactly the AL Central games will break down remains to be seen. MLB protected natural cross-divisional matchups, like the Cubs and White Sox, saying that those Chicago teams would play each other six times. Beyond that, it’s unclear how it will break down in the Central. The closest geographical team to the Pirates is the Indians, but the Reds might have a claim to them already. In that case, the Pirates would likely face the Tigers six times instead. We will see.
Beyond that six-game slate against one team, the Pirates will play the other four AL Central teams for only one series, and it will be either three or four games, depending on how the schedule breaks down. More clarity should be coming on this soon, as reports say MLB will send teams their finalized schedule in the next day or two.
• With interleague play, are there rule
changes? Glad you asked! It seemed a foregone conclusion that there was going to be a designated hitter throughout the league during negotiations. Because the 60-game mandate from commissioner Rob Manfred stems from the MLB-MLBPA agreement in March, which did not include a provision about the designated hitter, that prospect was less clear Tuesday.
The two sides, however, have since agreed that it is in their best interest to include a designated hitter. So no more pitchers hitting.
The other main change to game play will come when extra innings are required.
MLB is hoping to avoid those seemingly endless 15-plus inning games this year since the 60-game schedule will be a mashed-together sprint. So all extra innings will begin with a runner on second base. This rule has been implemented in the minor leagues in previous years, and it has worked, ending games sooner with regularity.
Additionally, games that are rained out before the fifth inning no longer will be canceled and restarted. Instead, they will be picked up where they left off, since the tight schedule doesn’t leave much room for make-up games.
• What do the rules for social distancing look like? MLB’s safety guidelines are extremely long and extensive. While some of their rules may seem monotonous or overbearing, people likely can agree that it’s necessary to be extremely cautious.
So, here are some of the things MLB is implementing to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Spitting is outlawed. That goes for sunflower seeds, chewing tobacco, all of it.
Pitchers are not allowed to lick their fingers. Instead, they will be permitted to have a wet rag in their pocket to moisten their fingers if necessary.
Players will be responsible for lugging their own gear on and off the field. So, no more bat boys and girls to run out to the base and take the shin guards, gloves or other protective gear from hitters. Same goes for pitchers, who will have to bring their own rosin bag to the mound with them.
High fives and hugs are not allowed. Look for socially distanced, elaborate airhandshakes instead.
MLB is also being extra careful about the baseballs themselves. Those used in batting practice can only be used on that day. Then, they’ll have to be sanitized and put aside for five days before being used again.
As far as the health of players, specifically, on a day-to-day basis, any high-risk player is permitted to opt out of playing. If any player lives with a high-risk person, like a pregnant wife, he, too, is allowed to sit out. All would still get paid and earn service time.
Those playing in games will have their temperature checked upon entering the park and will be tested multiple times throughout a week. Anybody who has a high temperature or tests positive will be sent home and won’t be allowed to return until he tests negative for COVID-19 twice, at least 24 hours apart, has been without a fever for 72 hours and has taken an antibody test.
• Will there be a trade deadline? Yes, and it will be Aug. 31. This will be extremely interesting. Teams might be more hesitant to buy or sell because they don’t have as large a sample size as they would during a regular season. Or, teams will see the length of the shortened season as an opportunity to compete for a championship when they otherwise might not be able to, leading to more aggressive trades.
For the Pirates, if they can pry a few prospects away from another team for a major league player, that would represent progress in the larger rebuild.
• How large will the rosters be? Teams will start the season with 30-man rosters. After two weeks, that number will go down to 28, and then two weeks after that it will diminish to 26. Before the season, there was supposed to be a rule that limited the number of pitchers on a roster. That rule has been waived.
As far as a taxi squad of players at the ready, we shall see. There are rumors that
Nashville might play host to two rosters of major-league-level free agents, whom teams can sign in the case of an injury or some other unforeseen issue. That has not yet been confirmed, but it would stand to reason that there would be some creative way of providing teams with at-the-ready help, since minor league games look like a sure thing to be canceled.
• Expanded playoffs? This, like the designated hitter, seemed as if it was going to be a sure thing during negotiations, but it was halted because an agreement was not reached. Unlike the designated hitter, there is no agreement on expanded playoffs. So, no expanded playoffs, it seems. Right now, it will be the 10-team format that we’ve gotten used to.