BASEBALL AND FANS ARE BACK
Regular season a marathon again, with sense of normalcy
It was over as soon as it started, more or less, the strangest little season in the history of baseball. Sixty games were all we got, not even 10 weeks — fewer games than a pro basketball or hockey schedule, fewer weeks than an NFL season.
“Last year was a sprint, and I don’t know if everybody was prepared to sprint, not only on our team but on other teams as well,” said Dusty Baker, the manager of the Houston Astros. “It’s actually more fun playing 162, because then, let’s see who’s the strongest mentally, physically and as a unit.”
The new season, which starts Thursday with all 30 teams in action, offers more than the usual gauzy promises of blue skies, green grass and the warmth of the sun. Actual human fans, at varying capacity levels, will see the return of baseball as usual: a sixmonth, everyday companion that should give us a new appreciation of the regular in regular season.
On March 10, the Rangers announced Globe Life Field would open its gates to 100% capacity on opening day. The announcement came eight days after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott rescinded all of the state’s COVID-19-related restrictions.
In Arlington, opening day might be the first major U.S. sporting event played before a sold-out crowd since the pandemic began. Outside of Texas, optimism is more cautious.
The Giants and A’s are on track to host up to 20% of capacity at their first home games.
Another season of television-only viewing would be draining, but is it really safe for most of us to attend a baseball game in person? That’s a multi-million dollar question affecting every team’s bottom line.
Here’s other storylines for the new season:
BIG NAMES ON NEW TEAMS» George Springer received the
biggest contract in the offseason from the Toronto Blue Jays. Trevor Bauer got the most money per season from the Los Angeles Dodgers. Francisco Lindor was traded to the New York Mets in a sixplayer deal.
The three star players headline the list of big names on new teams.
Other well-known players in different places:
NOLAN ARENADO >> The five-time All-Star third baseman was traded from Colorado to the St. Louis Cardinals for five players. Arenado, who won a Gold Glove in each of his eight seasons with the Rockies, joined a team that reached the postseason seven times in the past 10 years. The Cardinals last won a World Series in 2011.
Arenado hit .300 with a .937 OPS and averaged 40 homers and 124 RBIs between 2015-19. He led the league in homers three times in that span.
BLAKE SNELL >> The 2018 AL Cy Young Award winner was traded from the Tampa Bay Rays to the San Diego Padres for four players in December. The left-hander left the mound with a 1-0 lead in the sixth inning of Game 6 of the World Series but the bullpen blew it and the Dodgers clinched the title with a 3-1 win.
Snell had a 3.24 ERA in 11 starts last season. He was 21-5 with a 1.89 ERA in 2018. The Padres had the second-best record in the NL in 2020, snapping a 13-year postseason drought. But they were swept in the NL division series by the Dodgers.
Snell will anchor a rotation that features newcomers Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove.
YU DARVISH >> The four-time All-Star righthander was traded to the Padres from the Chicago Cubs in a seven-player deal on the same day San Diego acquired Snell. Darvish has twice finished runner-up for a Cy Young Award, including last season when he was 8-3 with a 2.01 ERA in 12 starts.
Darvish has three years and $59 million left on the $126 million, six-year deal he signed with the Cubs before the 2018 season.
THE STEEP RAMP-UP >> The other multi-million dollar question: How to keep pitchers healthy.
The ramp-up from a 60-game regular season to 162 games is steep. Much has been written about how that might affect pitching staffs and so-called “maintenance days” throughout the season. Already we’ve seen some of the top contending teams — like the Yankees, Dodgers, Padres, Mets — beef up their starting rotations beyond the usual five, motivated in part to guard against injuries.
PITCHERS ARE HITTING AGAIN >> So, why are pitchers hitting for themselves again?
Major League Baseball and the Players’ Association could not compromise on the terms of a universal designated hitter rule, which was adopted for the first time last season. Now, after a one-year respite, National League pitchers will again be grabbing a helmet and a bat and holding on for dear life.
This has already had ugly consequences. Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen suffered a hairline fracture of his right (pitching) forearm in spring training. He told reporters the injury first cropped up when he was jammed by a pitch while taking batting practice. With pitching-related injuries already expected to take a greater toll, don’t be surprised if some pitchers skip batting practice — or don’t swing at all once the games begin.
OH, RIGHT, THE VIRUS >> It’s easy to take for granted that stadiums will be more full than empty come August. The pandemic will have to cooperate, but for fans of the 29 U.S.-based teams, attending at least one game this season shouldn’t be a challenge. Meanwhile, fans of the Toronto Blue Jays are stuck on the wrong side of a U.S.-Canada border that remains closed to non-essential travel. The Jays will begin their season in Dunedin, Fla., their spring training home. When they can return to Toronto is anyone’s guess for now.
THREATENED LABOR PEACE >> This time a year ago, MLB and the Players’ Union were ratcheting up their rhetoric for a labor fight. At the time, they were bickering over the terms of the abbreviated 2020 season. Now, they must renegotiate a Collective Bargaining Agreement that expires at the end of the season.
Internally, the players’ distrust of ownership is said to run high. Former Mariners president Kevin Mather exacerbated the problem when he openly discussed how his team suppressed the service time of its top prospects and played hardball with free agents over the winter. Mather was fired, but his comments provided the union with ample bulletinboard material for improving their next labor deal. The rhetoric might ratchet up again soon.
THE BASEBALL IS DEAD >> Amid skyrocketing home run rates, MLB resolved to “deaden” the baseballs in use for the 2021 regular season. By loosening the tension of one of the wool layers within the baseball, Rawlings says it can reduce the ball’s bounciness. Its new product should be less aerodynamic, and therefore less likely to fly over the fence.
In theory, this will produce a game less dependent on the home run, a callback to an earlier era of baseball. But will the change resonate with fans? After being shut out of ballparks for most of last year, we’ll just have to take what we can get.