So, baseball will be the first back.
Whatever.
I mean, look, from a purely professional standpoint, I'll be delighted to get back to doing what I do. I'll be happy for the dozens of decent people within the Pirates' world, not least of whom are Derek Shelton, Ben Cherington, the coaches and the players who'll get back to doing what they do, too. We're all identified by what we do, to an extent, and there'll be a special satisfaction doing that during this extraordinary time in our world.
That isn't lost on me.
But sorry, the rest is.
Oh, they tried to pump everyone's tires within milliseconds of Major League Baseball's owners and players finally putting pen to paper to proceed with a 60-game schedule beginning in a month.
The teams tried ...
Now that’s it’s official, the countdown begins. #LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/uLc3s5ouwR
— Pirates (@Pirates) June 24, 2020
... as did the players ...
PLAY BALL BAAABAAYYYYYYYY pic.twitter.com/3vzNrwBk8a
— Trevor Williams (@MeLlamoTrevor) June 24, 2020
... and I've no doubt there was genuine excitement generated in places like, oh, you know, New York ...
The back page: YES! https://t.co/zSHpKq4xWP pic.twitter.com/o3x7zP9DAm
— New York Post Sports (@nypostsports) June 24, 2020
... but if anything of the sort was happening in Pittsburgh, I wasn't seeing it, hearing it, reading it, and I definitely wasn't feeling it myself.
And if I'm being blunt, I don't expect to be feeling it for the foreseeable future. Not as it relates to the epic embarrassment that this sport's become, specifically within its economic and competitive imbalance.
If that sounds excessively bitter or jaded, so be it. Because if there's one thing to which I could cling through these miscreants' misbehavior on both sides, it was ... uh, hope?
See, I hope all this carries through the coming season. And I hope the players file their predictable grievance for which they left $58 million on the table the other day. And I hope, even though they should lose it, that they win. And I hope they win big, like $1 billion or more, maybe $10 billion. And I hope the owners react with such horror, such rancor that they'll be united like never before.
And any longtime reader knows what I hope from there.
That's it. That's all I've got.
Everything about this beautiful sport, once the love of my life, is so badly broken that nothing shy of a spectacular NHL-level shutdown could conceivably bring about the change that's needed. Beyond the full-blown salary cap system -- and yeah, that means a hard cap, a tight floor within $20 million of the top, greatly expanded revenue sharing, all just like the NFL, NHL and NBA -- it means pace of play, putting the ball in play, all that other on-the-field stuff that's dragged the average age of the baseball fan all the way up to 57.
Get angry and aggressive, owners. Get active for once, Bob Nutting. Get people to actually start using the term 'salary cap' without being made to feel they're speaking ill of their children or something, not least of which are the pathetically complicit national baseball media who can't bring themselves to write it. (Do a Google search on a prominent baseball writer's name and 'salary cap' just for kicks.)
Make all this stupidity the sport just endured these past three months worth something.
In the meantime, hey, play ball. There's a World Series that people in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and a couple other places are eager to see.
• Don't get the wrong idea. To repeat, I'm very much looking forward to climbing back into a press box. MLB made formal that players will report for spring -- or summer -- training by July 1, exactly a week from today, and that the 2020 season opener will be July 23 or 24. Both of those will be good days in my life. No pouting or pounding the table here. When the first pitch flies, my focus will be on bringing you the best coverage I can of the games at hand.
But there's a bigger picture in play, a bigger opportunity to be seized here. I don't cover 30 teams, any more than I live in 30 cities. I cover one team, and it's in the only city I'll ever call home. That team and that city are buried in this system. That's my point, and it'll remain my own top priority in evaluating everything about baseball. Absolutely everything.
• So, swinging toward the Pirates' perspective, for anyone who doesn't know: They'll play only within the two Central Divisions -- 10 games each against the usual National League foursome, the rest against the American League's Twins, Indians, White Sox, Royals and Tigers -- and that schedule's expected to be released within the next couple days. This next part's not yet official, but word circulating late last night was that, against some expectations, their series won't be extended to minimize travel. You'll see the standard sets of three or four games.
Summation: Good for the Pirates.
The NL Central slipped in 2019, with the Cardinals needing only 91 wins to take it, the Brewers taking a wild card at 89, the Cubs five games behind that. The AL Central was way worse, beyond the 101-win Twins. The Indians won 93, but they're thought to be taking a sizable step back this year. The White Sox won 72, and the Royals and Tigers were two of baseball's three worst teams. (The Orioles were the other.)
If you're crossing over, this is what you'd want to find on the other side.
• The DH will be implemented.
This topic's never moved me much, and it won't now. But the Pirates were going to seriously lag in the lower part of the batting order and, as Shelton was telling me the other day, the DH could offer a welcome equalizer in that role. He didn't elaborate, but I'll do that on my own: Rather than potentially forfeiting whole innings by rolling out, say, Jacob Stallings, Jarrod Dyson and the pitcher, he'll now be able to bat Dyson at No. 9 and hope that Dyson's still-strong defense in center field cancels out the soft bat. That doesn't mean Shelton can pencil in the second coming of Edgar Martinez at DH, but it's a boost.
Summation: Good for the Pirates.
• The playoff field's right back at 10.
Maybe the most fun Pittsburgh's remaining baseball fans could've had this summer was to engage in bona fide daydreaming that anyone in a 60-game season could qualify for a 16-team postseason field. But the players petulantly nixed that by rejecting the owners' final offer over the weekend -- also for 60 games but with the $58 million more in guaranteed money and other perks, all so they could maybe win a grievance down the road -- so that's done.
Remember that one, by the way, when players say they love their teams' fans. Including the Pirates' players.
I can't know which way their union rep Jameson Taillon voted, but the final tally was 33-5 opposed, and he's never been one to rock the boat, so I'm guessing he'd have contributed to that cause. The one that'll be a hindrance to his healthy teammates' pursuit of a playoff berth.
Touchy subject, but hey. That's where baseball's driven the discussion. In Pittsburgh, an expanded playoff would have been good.
Summation: Bad for the Pirates.
• Extra innings will begin with a runner on second base.
Summation: Good for the Pirates.
Shelton's got speed to spare, but the bigger benefit will be avoiding taxing a pitching staff that'll still count Clay Holmes, Dovydas Neverauskas and Geoff Hartlieb among its peripheral depth.
• The active roster limit will be at 30 the first two weeks, then drop to 28 the next two weeks, then down to 26 the rest of the season.
Summation: Good for the Pirates.
There'd been buzz for weeks that the rosters would be hugely expanded. As we witnessed last season, the Neal Huntington/Kyle Stark farm system doesn't exactly lend itself toward relying on depth. This season was supposed to have 26 all along, and it's ideal this way.
• The final point of agreement between owners and players, comically enough, was on coronavirus protocol, something the NFL, NHL and NBA all achieved months ago. In baseball, players will be tested every other day, even if asymptomatic, and have temperature/symptom checks twice a day. There'll be some restrictions inside ballparks, too: Pitchers will be prohibited from licking their fingers. Baserunners will be encouraged to keep their distance. Everyone will be asked not to mingle with opponents before games or at batting practice. Staff members will wear masks in the dugout. Stuff like that.
Summation: Means nothing, to the Pirates or anyone else. It's all about testing, and the rest is optics. If you enter that ballpark testing negative, and everyone else does, too, you're in the safest place on the planet.
• Not pumped up enough yet?
Well, the Caesars Sportsbook reopened last night with those underfunded underdogs, the Yankees and Dodgers, as 7-2 favorites to win the World Series. Next in line are ... the Trash-Can Bangers at 11-1.
Woo!
• If you don't mind now, I'd like to get back to reading all of ESPN's 'Top 60 Storylines For A 60-Game Baseball Season," in which author David Schoenfield doesn't mention the Pirates or a Pittsburgh player a single time, not even in a section titled, 'Hard-hitting shortstops,' in which a dozen are cited and none are named Kevin Newman, owner of an .812 OPS as a rookie.
Whatever.
Want to listen to a half-hour of hockey talk instead?
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