Baseball 2020

[mikeyank]

Everything is different this year. Instead of Opening Day being the last week of March, it is in late July. Instead of an 162 game regular season, it is a 60 game regular season, no packed ball parks for Opening Day, instead no fans at all, and a whole bunch of rules changes and procedural changes during the Pandemic of 2020, but it is still baseball and I am psyched for the first pitch about an hour and a half away. There is something magical about baseball, the rhythm of having a game almost every night or day during the summer, the twists and turns during the season with players and teams no one expected to succeed or the opposite. It may be different but it is baseball and I'm thrilled that it is about to begin.

 

[kgmets]

With the ongoing virus this year, there will be less playing ball in the team showers after the game as baseball is encouraging players not to shower until they get home. Hey, if they all test negative, let them enjoy each other in the showers!

 

[mikeyank]

It was a very different "Opening Day", but at the same time, once the game started it also very very "normal", to be watching a baseball game on a July evening. Will the season play out to the finish in the midst of a pandemic? No one knows but at least for last night and continuing today, baseball is back and I am very glad!

 

[mikeyank]

And of course in 2020, besides the pandemic, we are also in a time of social unrest and the four teams involved in "Opening Night" showed solidity for the Black Lives Matter movement. All major league teams will have a 'Black Lives Matter' stencil on mounds across the league in its opening week. And last night in both games players in a pregame ceremony were holding a long black ribbon, symbolically connecting players and coaches in a united front against systemic racism. And during the National Anthem most players stood but some including the Dodger's new superstar acquisition Mookie Betts and new San Francisco manager Gabe Kapler knelled. While the game on the field remains the same, everything surrounding it is different in 2020.

 

[TouchKrazy]

Agree Mikeyank, yes it is so nice to have baseball back can't wait for today with a full schedule. It was weird watching without the sounds of fans in the seats. Great Pictures!

 

[kgmets]

Great New York City baseball home opener this afternoon with the Mets topping the Braves 1-0. DeGrom was great and Cespedes homered for the game's only run. While the camera scanned those cardboard human figurines, the Mets announcers mentioned that the Mets were selling them to Mets fans who wanted figurines of themselves on display at Citi Field. Then the camera found one of Chipper Jones, whom the Mets announcers called Larry Jones (Chipper always hated his first name). Speculation ensued as to who committed this subversive act? Was it Chipper himself? Or was it some Yankee fan in an attempt to annoy the Mets? If the latter, the Yankee fan was ignorant of Met history for Chipper used to kill the Mets at the old Shea Stadium (so much so that he named one of his children Shea) but not at Citi Field.

 

[mikeyank]

Great New York City baseball home opener this afternoon with the Mets topping the Braves 1-0. DeGrom was great and Cespedes homered for the game's only run. While the camera scanned those cardboard human figurines, the Mets announcers mentioned that the Mets were selling them to Mets fans who wanted figurines of themselves on display at Citi Field. Then the camera found one of Chipper Jones, whom the Mets announcers called Larry Jones (Chipper always hated his first name). Speculation ensued as to who committed this subversive act? Was it Chipper himself? Or was it some Yankee fan in an attempt to annoy the Mets? If the latter, the Yankee fan was ignorant of Met history for Chipper used to kill the Mets at the old Shea Stadium (so much so that he named one of his children Shea) but not at Citi Field.

It was probably a Yankee fan, KG. LOL

 

[mikeyank]

I was very pleased with "Opening Weekend" baseball, primarily watching the Yankee games and once the games got started, it felt like regular baseball as I concentrated on the games and broadcasters as in a regular season. I could ignore the lack of fans and the fake crowd noises as it was baseball. I woke up this morning looking forward to a game every day this week, but then I learned that tonight's Yankees game in Philadelphia has been postponed.

The game has been postponed because the Miami Marlins played in Citizens Bank Park in Philly over this past weekend, and we learned that 14 Miami players and personnel tested positive for COVID-19, and used the visitor's clubhouse which the Yankees would have used tonight. And the Phillies also had to be tested as well as the Marlins and the series at Citizens Bank Park and at Miami against the Orioles are on hold until the results of the tests come in. Very disturbing news and the whole MLB season is potentially in jeopardy as the virus is still rampant in America and this is another example that sadly things are far from normal, even in sports.

 

[kgmets]

I was very pleased with "Opening Weekend" baseball, primarily watching the Yankee games and once the games got started, it felt like regular baseball as I concentrated on the games and broadcasters as in a regular season. I could ignore the lack of fans and the fake crowd noises as it was baseball. I woke up this morning looking forward to a game every day this week, but then I learned that tonight's Yankees game in Philadelphia has been postponed.

The game has been postponed because the Miami Marlins played in Citizens Bank Park in Philly over this past weekend, and we learned that 14 Miami players and personnel tested positive for COVID-19, and used the visitor's clubhouse which the Yankees would have used tonight. And the Phillies also had to be tested as well as the Marlins and the series at Citizens Bank Park and at Miami against the Orioles are on hold until the results of the tests come in. Very disturbing news and the whole MLB season is potentially in jeopardy as the virus is still rampant in America and this is another example that sadly things are far from normal, even in sports.

You are so right about that!

 

[kgmets]

With more Marlins testing positive today, Dr. Fauci opined that the entire 2020 baseball season may now be in jeopardy.

 

[mikeyank]

With more Marlins testing positive today, Dr. Fauci opined that the entire 2020 baseball season may now be in jeopardy.

Many years ago Howard Cossell said that sports is a microcosm of society. This sadly is a case in point.

 

[mikeyank]

We are now ten days into the 2020 MLB season. While I am thrilled that my team, The New York Yankees are off to a great start with a 6-1 record, at the same time I am very fearful that the season can come to a grinding halt at any time due to the outbreaks of COVID-19 particularly on The Miami Marlins but also on a couple of players on St Louis. And games involving teams playing in the same ball parks or teams who were scheduled to play these teams have been postponed as well.

I love baseball and so I am trying to take the attitude of enjoying whatever baseball is being played now, as every game could be the last game of the season. I hope I am wrong and the season will play out for the full abbreviated slate of sixty games, plus the postseason and a World Series Champion will be crowned, but I just don't know. As with every other aspect of the year 2020 thus far, baseball is another great unknown......

 

[mikeyank]

Well, I am pleasantly surprised that all major league teams made it through the abbreviated sixty game regular season. To my thinking when the season finally started it was a 50/50 chance of getting through for all teams, but we made it.

Now the postseason begins to determine the teams who make it to the World Series. I know that baseball and sports are trivial compared to all the issues we face today, but it is a hell of a fun diversion for us fans! By the way, "Go Yankees!". lol

 

[kgmets]

Well, I am pleasantly surprised that all major league teams made it through the abbreviated sixty game regular season. To my thinking when the season finally started it was a 50/50 chance of getting through for all teams, but we made it.

Now the postseason begins to determine the teams who make it to the World Series. I know that baseball and sports are trivial compared to all the issues we face today, but it is a hell of a fun diversion for us fans! By the way, "Go Yankees!". lol

Congrats to the Yankees on making the playoffs!

 

[mikeyank]

Congrats to the Yankees on making the playoffs!

Thanks KG. I appreciate that especially coming from a Mets fan!

 

[kgmets]

Thanks KG. I appreciate that especially coming from a Mets fan!

I would have preferred you posting a pic of Rosario's walk off home run in Yankee Stadium last July!

 

[mikeyank]

The two teams in the National league Championship Series are set, The Dodgers and the Braves. But in the American League, only one team is set, Houston. Tonight is a winner take all final game between Tampa Bay and the Yankees. Last night, my boy, Gleyber Torres ht a monster home run to put the game out of reach and to set up tonight's showdown.

I just know what our friend kgmets would like to put in Gleyber's open mouth! lol

GO YANKS!!!!!

 

[mikeyank]

The Yankee season is over. Congratulations to Tampa. Go get the Astros.

 

[Repareur]

The Yankee season is over. Congratulations to Tampa. Go get the Astros.

Calm down there. I’m not big on Baseball but my partner is a big Astros fan.

 

[mikeyank]

Calm down there. I’m not big on Baseball but my partner is a big Astros fan.

Do you know about the cheating scandal with Houston? They were very fortunate that there were no fans at their road games this year as most baseball fans were very pissed off at their antics.

I’m surprised that our friend Tampa24 is not chiming in here as he used to go to Rays home games. That is where he and I met in person, at Tropicana Field several years ago.