In an interview with 93.7 The Fan Tuesday, Pirates general manager Ben Cherington again reaffirmed that even though the 2020 season is very much in jeopardy, he is optimistic that baseball will be played.
This comes one day after commissioner Rob Manfred said he is "not confident" there would be a 2020 season after the players association cut off negotiations with the league. The union told the owners Saturday that they should tell the players "when and where" they should report.
“I remember something a mentor of mine shared with me more than once during negotiations and that is: ‘Sometimes, it’s darkest just before the dawn,’ so I’ll hold onto that,” Cherington said. “The second thing would be is that I really do remain optimistic. My optimism is based on the knowledge that I believe teams and players both want to play, that there is a motivation to play. When two groups are motivated about something, there tends to be a chance to work something out.
“It’s frustrating, certainly for our fans. It’s frustrating for people who care about the game — for players, for you in the media, for us — but I remain optimistic and bet on a season happening.”
Cherington expressed the same optimism during a Zoom call with local reporters on June 4. He gave the same reason for that optimism during his Tuesday interview, too.
“My optimism is based on the knowledge that I believe teams and players both want to play,” Cherington said. “There’s a motivation to play. When two groups are motivated toward something, there tends to be a chance to work things out.”
If there is a season, it would likely be around 50 games long. With that small a sample size, if there is a season, it is going to be an unpredictable one.
“We could see outcomes or just things happen in a short season that are unexpected,” Cherington said. “The shorter the season, probably the more potentially extreme outcomes could happen."
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