MLB IS BACK! Things to lookout for in 2020

We’re Back! What a wild ride the last couple of months have been for major sports fans across the world. A month ago many were extremely pessimistic at the thought of a MLB season due to safety issues revolving around Covid and more importantly the owners being able to buckle down and offer the players contracts worth going out there during these troubling times. The day is here, it's going to be a learning process the entire way and it's going to be a thrill ride watching the major contenders navigate through this season. The big aspects I’m most interested to see is how big league managers go through their bullpen; how they deal with absences of big time players due to Covid or any other issues in this 60 game season; and how potential Cinderella teams can get hot and wind up in a position to compete for the playoffs. The season is here, the sports world is locked and loaded to see how this fan-less experience goes, at least for a week until the NBA begins to dominate the ratings.

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Important differences this season:

I already touched on this, but obviously the 100 game difference of this season, professional baseball is an extremely streaky league, believe it or not. Important pieces of a team can get hot at the right time and cause a team to go on a run. I know there's going to be at least one team that shocks the world this year and gets a playoff spot in this 60 game season. The next major factor is going to be the injury list. This year is going to show a vast amount of injuries, mainly due to Covid-19. Opening Day is here and the Yankees are missing two incredibly important pieces in DJ Lemahieu and Aroldis Chapman. The Giants are one of the bottom tier teams this year, but regardless they’re missing one of their best players and future Hall of Famer Buster Posey whole has elected to sit out this season. Injuries are going to play a much more pivotal role in some of these teams' shortened season. Opt-outs are going to be there, teams are going to need a humongous positive management presence if they want to sniff a playoff berth this season. The last ten games of the season are all going to feel like playoff games for those on the bubble of making it to the postseason. Pitchers are going to get yanked early, we’re going to see a ton of substitutions, and managers are going to be on their A-game if they want to see the postseason. We are going to be fan-less at least for the entire regular season and most likely for the playoffs; piped in crowd noise is going to have a huge contribution to the at home experience for fans. Baseball for most is already a “boring” game as it's typically three hours long and provides spurts of energy and excitement. The way these soundboard operators use their power and facilitate crowd noise is going to be essential for the fans at home and how they perceive the game. From what I have seen during practice games there is plenty of room for improvement and I expect the operators to get creative sooner rather than later to keep ratings up. Universal Designated Hitters is going to be a new addition this year and shouldn’t shake up the league too much but is an important rule to mention. I’m sure Madison Bumgarner is a little bummed about this but overall I think this is something that needs to happen. We also are going to see a new rule which managers are going to have to deal with in every pitcher needing to face at least three batters. We aren’t going to see any more Javier Lopez-esque performances where a reliever is asked to take down one left-handed batter than depart from the mound. Managers are going to have to be very decisive in their pitching changes and this rule might put specialists permanently on the hot seat for major league appearances. Last but not least the lack of variety of opponents will be a huge factor in the final standings. For example the Marlins were expected to be pretty bad if not one of the worst teams this year already, their schedule pits them against the NL East in 40 games and the AL East in 20 games. Those two are both loaded touting only one team expected to do poorly in both divisions. This is how I expect one team to sneak into the playoffs and shock the baseball world this year.