No. It’s bad.
I gave it it’s best shot. I was pro-season going in, but now that it’s almost over it just didn’t do it for me. It wasn’t..normal?
That’s been a trend for me with the pandemic. Everything and everyone is trying their hardest to approximate normal. How can we dine? How can we shop? How can we cram the same educational milestones into a school year remotely? How do we have a baseball season?
It’s not normal though, and a little foresight would’ve gone a long way into envisioning a different type of season, not just a shorter one. Rob Manfred though, seems to hate baseball, and it shows. So instead of anything approaching creative, we get shoe-horned in last minute changes like a runner on second in extra innings, or 7 inning games, extra teams in the playoffs and no breaks in the playoff rounds.
First mistake was ignoring the pandemic. MLB dragged its feet on playing at all, purposely waiting until they could mandate 60 games. Maybe that could’ve worked if they started earlier and factored in time for potential quarantines. Instead anytime anyone had to miss games, even if it was only a few days, they were faced with a 10 game in 7 day scenario, or long stretches with no off days.
So teams would go from a bunch of days off in a row, to suddenly playing non-stop. I haven’t run specific numbers, but it’s hard not to imagine players timing being off, players routines being off. These are players that, accurate or not, would complain about all sorts of minor disruptions from not getting enough work in, to having to pitch the 7th instead of the 9th, as reasons why they were less effective.
The injuries too. They go from cold to hot, with no build up. ‘Summer camp’ was abbreviated. Players rushed, and got hurt. The games mean more, so they’re pressing more. It’s like every complaint about the WBC without any guidelines or protocols in place. Never mind rehab starts. Need to miss a start or two because of a tight hamstring or a hangnail or anything else? Right back into live games without any minor league time. Hope you’re sharp!
Of course, there are no fans. We knew that, but for all the jokes about it being normal for the Marlins, or whoever, it’s wrong. It feels wrong. I can’t quite take the whole thing seriously because the images from the park are so foreign. The playoffs are going to feel weird, muted, without all the pomp and circumstance that goes with a fanatical group of people in the stands getting excited.
Now that this season is just about over, even though it feels like it barely started, and I just never really found the passion to dive into the season and really commit. Part of that is just that with so much going on, sports feels so secondary anyway. I have so much on my mind, so much I’m worried about, caring about, dealing with, that sports? I just can’t get myself there.
All in all, this season has mostly been an abomination. I was really rooting for it, but they just couldn’t pull it off, but that’s a discussion for another day. At least they mostly kept everyone safe, so far.
