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2020 MLB Season Thread -- Rays v. Dodgers -- Small Payroll v. Large Payroll

Interesting list. One catcher. Four pitchers. Five infielders. Ten outfielders. It certainly leaves room for discussion.
 
If Mays hadn't played in SF, he might have hit 75-800 HRs.

Not sure Clemens should be so high on the list. He was great before doing 'roids but too many years were on them. Bonds was already a Top 5-10 player when he started using them and had solid years ahead. Clemens needed the 'roids to stay at the top.

Clemens should be in the HOF, but I'm not sure he deserves to be that high.
 
The list seems a bit skewered against pitchers to me.

As for the playing topic, one that I've seen making the rounds is no AL/NL and it would be temporary leagues/divisions based on Spring Training locations. From what I've seen, it looks like this:

Florida:
North: Yankees, Phillies, Tigers, Pirates, Toronto (basically the Tampa area)
South: Red Sox, Twins, Braves, Rays, Orioles (Fort Myers/Port Charlotte/Sarasota)
East: Mets, Nationals, Astros, Cardinals, Marlins (Palm Beach area)

Arizona:
Northeast: Cubs, Giants, Rockies, D-Backs, A's (Scottsdale/Mesa)
West: Dodgers, White Sox, Indians, Reds, Angels (Glendale/Goodyear, with the Angels kinda stuck out in Tempe)
Northwest: Brewers, Padres, Mariners, Rangers, Royals (Peoria)

Overall, the Florida league would be crazy and very unbalanced. The North would likely be dominated by the Yankees, with the Phillies and Blue Jays being decent and then everyone beating up on the Tigers and Pirates. The South could be fun to watch, with the Rays, Braves and Twins all having good teams and the Red Sox still have some talent. The East could be entertaining with the World Series rematches plus solid Mets and Cardinals teams.

The Arizona league doesn't have quite the talent...Dodgers would likely run away with the thing, with Oakland being the only other team that I think would have a strong chance of emerging out of there.
 
The list seems a bit skewered against pitchers to me.

As for the playing topic, one that I've seen making the rounds is no AL/NL and it would be temporary leagues/divisions based on Spring Training locations. From what I've seen, it looks like this:

Florida:
North: Yankees, Phillies, Tigers, Pirates, Toronto (basically the Tampa area)
South: Red Sox, Twins, Braves, Rays, Orioles (Fort Myers/Port Charlotte/Sarasota)
East: Mets, Nationals, Astros, Cardinals, Marlins (Palm Beach area)

Arizona:
Northeast: Cubs, Giants, Rockies, D-Backs, A's (Scottsdale/Mesa)
West: Dodgers, White Sox, Indians, Reds, Angels (Glendale/Goodyear, with the Angels kinda stuck out in Tempe)
Northwest: Brewers, Padres, Mariners, Rangers, Royals (Peoria)

Overall, the Florida league would be crazy and very unbalanced. The North would likely be dominated by the Yankees, with the Phillies and Blue Jays being decent and then everyone beating up on the Tigers and Pirates. The South could be fun to watch, with the Rays, Braves and Twins all having good teams and the Red Sox still have some talent. The East could be entertaining with the World Series rematches plus solid Mets and Cardinals teams.

The Arizona league doesn't have quite the talent...Dodgers would likely run away with the thing, with Oakland being the only other team that I think would have a strong chance of emerging out of there.

With 15 teams in each state, how are they going to handle scheduling? Split doubleheaders? With travel being minimal, the home stand concept doesn't apply so each team being off every 15th day would work. Setting up rotations could be challenging.
 
With 15 teams in each state, how are they going to handle scheduling? Split doubleheaders? With travel being minimal, the home stand concept doesn't apply so each team being off every 15th day would work. Setting up rotations could be challenging.

Good point with no inter-league. My guess is they could also work in the Rays and Marlins stadiums (especially since both have domes) and do some split double-headers at those.
 
How will pitching be handled? Seems to me they would need to expand rosters to have about double the normal pitching staff to handle daily double headers.
 
How will pitching be handled? Seems to me they would need to expand rosters to have about double the normal pitching staff to handle daily double headers.

Double-headers would still probably be limited to one a week (maybe the occasional two) - if you do 30 man rosters that would take care of it, especially if you're making the double-headers as seven inning games. Get five out of your starters and then you're not overtaxing the pens.
 
MLB teams would expand rosters.

There is no current plan for minor league games. So, in addition to the need for expanded rosters because of the compressed schedule, MLB teams will want to have more players available because when a player gets hurt, there is no active AAA or AA team for each MLB team that can provide players that are ready for game action. Think that is why MLB has now shifted the plan to have each team at their spring training facility, where they would have the capacity to have 40 or more players for each team training and ready even if they aren't on the active roster. As it stands now, almost every MLB team goes through 40+ players during a season because of injury or trades. I would guess the active roster would sit at some number between 26-30, but teams would be able to draw from the 40 man roster, which might even be expanded, as needed. So, team will keep at least another 15 or so players at the facility so that they can be called to fill spots for injured players.
 
Rosters were already expanded to 26 for this season. It wouldn’t surprise me to see another 1 or 2 added to that, once all the scheduling details are finalized. Or, a relaxation of the rule on how many days a player has to spend in the minors (currently 20) after being optioned
 
If nothing else, I'd like to see a consolidated prospects league happen.


... I think leagues should probably start considering that this might not be a one season/year problem.

I'm assuming every team could convince 40 guys from their Rk/A/AA/AAA rosters to play/isolate under a similar structure to what had already been proposed for MLB (in Arizona).

If you made it (my hypothetical league) something entirely different from a traditional MLB season, it makes the scheduling concerns way less restrictive. Play for the 2020 'ZonaRona cup. A fully balanced schedule with 4 games against every opponent, regardless of division/league. 116 games with no playoffs.

Try out all the crazy shit MLB has been itching to do with rules, etc. Just put a product out there with safety still in mind. Eventually let some fans attend, while adhering to any CDC recommendations still in place.

Depending on how it played out, I guess they could ramp up the number of MLB players allowed on the roster as we go on.

Let's face it, whatever major sport figures out how to put ANY product on the field first is in for ratings (and, maybe liability) galore.
 
I've seen projections for a COVID peak in Florida anywhere from next week to mid-May. It seems models are moving the possible surge earlier than expected, but Arizona is still a less bad option than Florida right now. I'd be surprised if MLB or any league considers playing there.

Arizona is projected to see fewer than 1k deaths by early August, where as Florida is projected for almost 4k. Even accounting for the population difference, that's an impossible margin to justify.
 
Double-headers would still probably be limited to one a week (maybe the occasional two) - if you do 30 man rosters that would take care of it, especially if you're making the double-headers as seven inning games. Get five out of your starters and then you're not overtaxing the pens.

The OP said they were going to try to get close to 162 games. If so, then they'll need more double headers than that.
 
Even in the most optimistic scenarios, hard to see any path where MLB teams play 162 games. If MLB started with a full slate of games on Memorial Day weekend (May 22 to May 25), they would've missed two months, and to start games then, players would need to start reporting to training camps in the next 3 to 4 weeks. Things would have to improve very quickly for that to happen, and even then with a compressed schedule, they would have to play the World Series after Thanksgiving to play 162 games.

Think most MLB team would be happy if they could play 100 games, and 81 games is probably more likely. If there is little progress or a second wave over the next few months, don't see how a season could be played.
 
In lieu of the baseball season, MLB.com is starting the MLB Dream Bracket tournament next week. A simulated 32 team tournament with team rosters composed of the best players in the history of each team. 15 position players and 11 pitchers selected by their best three seasons with that team. Every team will use a DH. A team of Negro league stars and a team of 25 and younger players were added to the 30 MLB teams to fill out the brackets. Best of seven series to determine who will advance. Teams have been seeded. It's worth a look at your favorite teams roster. The Yankees and the Cardinals are the top seeds.

Babe Ruth is the starting RF for the Yankees. He is also a pitcher for the Red Sox. I wonder if he'll pinch hit as well?
 
 
Anybody else watch ESPN's coverage of Korea Baseball Organization Opening Day last night? Karl Ravech and Eduardo Perez were on the call from their respective homes.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id...le-how-watch-teams-korea-baseball-league-more

It was interesting. No fans. Some mascots in the stands. No fist bumps just elbow bumps. There was a home run just inside the foul pole and Ravech and Perez weren't sure what happened because there was no crowd reaction and the hitter took his time before going around the bases.
 
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