MLB’s wild & crazy 60 game sprint: The three things I want to see happen during the 2020 MLB season
We’re gonna have a 2020 Major League Baseball season and that’s enough to rejoice, right?
Well, not if you’re going to play 60 games which many fans are not cool with. However, the owners and MLB Players Association have come to an agreement and the league will start near the end of July. Magazines and websites spent the fall and winter months developing previews for a 162 game season and now it’s lopped down to 60. Now, what you’re about to read is not a preview but it is three things I want to see happen in a season that we may never see in our collective lifetimes ever again. Major League Baseball has 60 games and change to crown a champion, why not enter the theater of the absurd while we’re here.
Give Me the dumbest, most unlikely World Series possible.
This season is gonna be weird, dumb, make no sense at times and did I say weird? So why not give us the most random World Series we’ve seen in generations. After 60 games last season, the Pittsburgh Pirates were leading the NL Central and the Washington Nationals weren’t even close to a pennant race. Well, you know how the 2019 season ended. As the American and National League begins their 60-game sprints, here are the four most random World Series matchups I’m using with a random MLB Team generator, because why not right?
Chicago White Sox vs. Philadelphia Phillies
New York Yankees vs. Arizona D-Backs
Cleveland Indians vs. Milwaukee Brewers
Seattle Mariners vs. Miami Marlins
Someone hits 25+ home runs
The league is juicing the ball, we all know it and in an era of power, bat velocity and launch angles we are conditioned to see someone go yard almost every night. In a 60 game season, someone’s gonna go nuts from the dish. In 1997, Ken Griffey Jr. hit 29 home runs in a 60 game stretch from April 9 to June 15. So, who are my candidates to hit the 25+ mark? According to Fangraphs, Giancarlo Stanton, Pete Alonzo, and Mike Trout are expected to lead the way. While neither of the trio is projected to crack the 20 HR mark, a hot start could do the trick.
If I were a betting man, I would put my money on the second-year New York Mets star Pete Alonzo. The reigning NL Rookie of the Year smacked 53 homers in 2019 (a rookie record by the way) so in this strange and shortened season, why not buck the trend of a sophomore slump.
The Mariners make the playoffs
The Seattle Mariners playoff drought is old enough to buy a pack of cigarettes and can vote in the upcoming presidential election. Yeah, it’s been that long. 2001 to be exact. So in this 60-game sprint to the playoffs, why the hell not Seattle?
There’s a bunch of young talent but there’s little to expect from them this season, just look at the latest projections from PECOTA and Fangraphs. You never know what can happen in 60 games, so why not? It would make sense to have Seattle to pull off the strangest, possibly most improbable run in a 60-game season when there will be little to no fans in the ballpark. Of course the Mariners would decide to make a playoff run...of course they would.
This story was originally published July 10, 2020 at 11:00 AM.
