SkyBlueWaters

Years ago Dusty Baker was asked if he favored the DH. He said he liked it the way it is, pitchers hitting in 1 league, but the DH in the other. Me, too. I wish the Twins had had a shot at Bumgarner this off-season. But he likes hitting, which I believe factored into his staying in the NL. Football is a cookie cutter sport. They have rules for how high you wear your socks. Everything made uniform. In baseball, the outfield walls vary. There's more variety. The individual is emphasized. A guy stand alone in the batters box. Fine for the universal DH in this coronavirus year, but I wish they'd go back to how it was from '73 to 2019 next year. If we're going to change anything, bring on the automated strike zone.

I guess it depends which plan is implemented. The first plan I heard of, which was to use Grapefruit and Cactus League parks, mixing NL & AL teams into divisions of five, called for universal DH. Which of course upset some people. I don't know if the 3 divisions of 10 each format would also include the universal DH. One thing I did like in that initial plan was using computers to call balls and strikes. I'm soo tired of seeing pitches far outside called strikes, or vice versa. Even if the digital strike zone isn't perfect, how could it be worse than what we've endured for years?

I believe MLB is planning what to do if a city has a covid 19 virus outbreak. The players want to be close to their families. Perhaps the driving factor is what to do if all of a team's home games have to be played on the road, due to an outbreak. The plan minimizes travel, particularly for the 10 west teams. Look at Atlanta on a map. Barely closer to Cincy. St. Louis not too much farther away. The two Florida teams would stay with the east. P'burgh is closer, on average, to the eastern teams. For example, in the northeastern 8 teams, look at the longest trip, Pitt to Boston. Now compare Pitt to KC, St. Louis, Twin Cities. I'm not advocating, just trying to see the rationale. Imagine the season begins, and crisis erupts again. Now they are back on the fence, trying to sort out: Do we keep going, or cancel? Perhaps the flexibility to play "home" games nearby (albeit on the road), with TV crews at the ready, in empty ballparks, is a consideration? My personal take: I'd watch it. Apologies to John de Vries' Desperate Housegraphs, but I'm unlikely to become a fan. Women dousing each other with champagne? I'd rather see Kepler & Sano.

I believe MLB is planning what to do if a city has a covid 19 virus outbreak. The players want to be close to their families. Perhaps the driving factor is what to do if all of a team's home games have to be played on the road, due to an outbreak. The plan minimizes travel, particularly for the 10 west teams. Look at Atlanta on a map. Barely closer to Cincy. St. Louis not too much farther away. The two Florida teams would stay with the east. P'burgh is closer, on average, to the eastern teams. For example, in the northeastern 8 teams, look at the longest trip, Pitt to Boston. Now compare Pitt to KC, St. Louis, Twin Cities. I'm not advocating, just trying to see the rationale. Imagine the season begins, and crisis erupts again. Now they are back on the fence, trying to sort out: Do we keep going, or cancel? Perhaps the flexibility to play games nearby, with TV crews at the ready, in empty ballparks, is a consideration? My personal take: I'd watch it. Apologies to John de Vries' Desperate Housegraphs, but I'm unlikely to become a fan. Women dousing each other with champagne? I'd rather see Kepler & Sano.

Great point about the Giants thinking of moving to Minnesota! Had O'Malley not talked Horace Stoneham into becoming the second team to move across the continent (the NL wanted 2 teams, to justify the road trip), Stoneham was looking at Met Stadium, when it was still new and hosted the Millers, as a new home. A number of guys played for both franchises; some might remember Al Worthington as the Twins' closer before saves were a thing. He had a long career as a Giant before the Twins. Some other names that stood out for me: Paul Giel, Wayne Terwilliger, Steve Bedrosian, Juan Berenguer, Billy Gardner, Bull Durham, Rob Wilfong. Denard Span, anyone? If this works, you can see a list, here: How about Boileryard Clarke?

As you had the '24 world series between the NY Giants and the Senators, you might also include the '33 series between the same 2 franchises. Future HOFer Carl Hubbell for the first time wins over 20 games that season, throwing 308 IP. Senators had some hitters who routinely show up in the franchise all-time offense stats, Goose Goslin, Sam Rice, and great names like Ossie Bluege and Heinie Manush. Pitching staff was led by General Crowder. Still, Washington lost in 5, taking the fifth game to 10 innings. Player/manager Joe Cronin was managing for the first time and won the pennant, just as rookie manager Bucky Harris had won it in '24. Tom Kelly repeated the trick in '87, when the Twins might have faced SF until the Giants lost the NLCS to St. Louis. One of the few times a player on the losing team won the LCS MVP award, Jeff HacMan Leonard won it amid his one-flap down antics, drawing some love at Busch Stadium. Playing next to HacMan that year was a very talented centerfielder named Charles Theodore Davis, known as Chili. Which was a bit amusing, as he didn't like the cold at Candlestick Park much. Yet Kirby Puckett in the off-season of '91 managed to convince Chili that he'd fit into Minnesota's lineup well, which he did, all the way into October that year. Chili and Hrbek provided the thump behind Kirby, with table-setters like Knobby, Shane Mack, and Danny Gladden. Harper hit well from the catcher position. A deep lineup is a joy to behold, which reminds me ... Don't we have a deep lineup this year? Are we gonna play some games, or what?

How is it South Korea, Germany, China are all able to get enough tests to monitor their people and get on top of this thing, and we are so far behind? My understanding is that Germany is so far out in front of the coronavirus that they take sick patients from other countries to alleviate some of the pressure.

Remember the controversies when MLB-ready prospects are held down in the minors at the start of a season to extend team control? Guys not called up until later in the spring or early summer even though they tore it up in the minors? Might be less of that this year. If wealthy veterans would rather not be quarantined, there could well be some young prospects willing to live ensconced in hotels, knowing that millions will be watching them play on TV.

What happens is how baseball always handles injury or illness. Tommy John requiring surgery did not end the baseball season. The book "The Pitch That Killed: Carl Mays, Ray Chapman, and the Pennant Race of 1920" by Mike Sowell is a great read, explaining how baseball continued exactly a century ago when the very game itself caused death. Tony Conigliaro's injury did not stop the game. Myself, I'm not into auto racing. I know people love it, and they show up to watch it, despite the fact that the sport itself has caused spectacular crashes, injuries, and death. Why do they continue?

Agreed. If they were to play in the "Grapefruit South," one of three divisions, 5 teams means they would need some games outside the division. I'm curious to see how MLB might resolve this--I'm guessing they wouldn't use "interleague" games between AZ and FL! Some team plays a doubleheader against two others, thus 8 games among 16 teams? Or off days--only 14 teams playing in 7 games per day? Re the schedule, 12 games against each of 4 division rivals is 48 games, 6 games against 10 others outside the division would be 108 total games. No cold weather problem playing into the autumn in FL & AZ. Final thought: please, one full, healthy season from Buxton.

Fans always weigh who's better and what wasn't and why one team was great another wasn't. The asterisk placed by Maris's name was fictional, never actually in the record book. But those who revered Ruth drew attention to the difference between 154 and 162 game seasons. This stuff is part of baseball's narrative. It's a reason why forums like this exist. So some day guys in their sweats and bathrobes can write: Oh, yea, 2020. That was that weird year when so many of the veterans with families stayed home, and all these hot young prospects had a chance to play in that brief season when MLB played as the Cactus and Grapefruit Leagues.

I totally agree. If the players and the MLBPA don't like it, then they should have the option of voiding their contracts for the season and looking for other work, along with the millions of Americans recently unemployed. At a certain point, testing will evolve to the extent the quarantine is less draconian.

Is the photo, left to right, Allison, Ramos, and Bertoia?

If you reject the idea of games at all because some players opt out, does that mean you reject the 1942 to 1945 seasons because some of baseball's best players were off fighting WW2? Do those stats not count? Many Americans don't have a choice about their jobs--they are now unemployed. It's hard for me to work up a lot of sympathy for players who might opt out because they are inconvenienced by our changed world. Maybe Hal Newhouser's MVP awards mean less, earned during the war. But even that discussion is part of the game's narrative.