Could MLB get creative and get 2020 season rolling? Sure, but there are consequences

Recently, The Kansas City Star published an article about the 2020 season and how Major League Baseball might have to get creative if it wants to play one.

The article mentioned several possibilities, so let’s take a break from all our worries (the Cheers bar probably isn’t open) and look at what each of those options might mean from a ballplayer’s point of view.

Doubleheaders and days off

One of the options mentioned is playing more doubleheaders and as many as nine games a week.

If that were to happen, the first thing you think about is pitching ... and that’s a good place to start.

There might be exceptions, but most relievers can throw two or three days in a row and then need a day off; starters normally need four days of rest between starts. If you pile on that many extra games, rosters will have to expand to allow pitchers to get their normal rest.

And don’t forget “up-downs” — throwing then sitting and throwing again.

Those are harder on a reliever’s arm than “one and done” appearances, so a guy who threw in Game 1 of a doubleheader might not be available in Game 2. Because they’re played on the same day, a team with a dynamite closer might not get to use him in both games.

And if a reliever does pitch in both ends of a doubleheader, he might need more than one day off. Winning both ends of a doubleheader on Sunday might mean taking a loss on Tuesday.

Doubleheaders are tough on catchers as well.

Throw in a couple doubleheaders a week and teams might need three catchers instead of two. And if that third guy isn’t the receiver the first two are, pitchers might be drawing straws to see who has to throw to a third-string catcher.

Nine games in a single week is a ton of baseball, which could lead to more injuries, so scheduling days off for position players is going to be even more important than it’s been in the past.

We think the best managers are the best at baseball strategy, but if teams are playing nine games a week, knowing when to give a shortstop a day off might be more important than knowing when to throw a pitchout.

Seven-inning games and bullpens

Good bullpens will always be important, but they’ll be less important in seven-inning games.

If the other team has two quality relievers and you’ve got three, you might need the extra two innings for your advantage to come into play. If they play seven-inning games, that helps the weaker bullpens.

And here’s another thing to think about:

If you lose a seven-inning game by one run, you’re upset because you always believe you would have found a way to score that necessary run. If you lose a nine-inning game by one run, you’re still not happy but at least you lost in a legitimate ballgame.

On the other hand, if you’re losing by 10 runs after seven innings everybody is pretty damn happy to go home early.

Neutral sites and home-field

When Billy Hamilton first came to the Royals, he had a couple plays where he appeared to pull up early on catchable balls.

When outfield coach Mitch Maier was asked if Hamilton had trouble playing the wall — some outfielders do — Maier said no, Hamilton just wasn’t exactly sure where the wall was.

Once an outfielder gets used to a park he has a feel for how long he can run before hitting the wall and how many strides he has left after his foot hits the warning track. And just to make it more difficult, all big-league warning tracks aren’t the same width, so a player needs to remember which city he’s in while he’s running down a fly ball.

Maier said once Hamilton got a feel for Kauffman Stadium he’d start making those warning-track catches ... and Maier was right.

Familiarity didn’t breed contempt. It bred better defense.

In Fenway a shortstop has to head to short left field on a double down the third base line because the wall juts out and that double can be turned into a single when it hits the stands and caroms back to the shortstop.

In Oakland there’s a ton of foul territory and infielders can’t give up on a foul pop too soon; when their minds are telling them they’re about to hit the stands, they’ve still got room.

Every park has its quirks and part of home-field advantage is getting used to them and playing those quirks better than the visiting team.

Play ballgames in neutral sites and the home-team advantage won’t be quite as big.

Cold weather and breaking pitches

Ask hitters who has the advantage in cold weather and they’ll say the pitchers; ask pitchers the same question and they’ll say it’s the hitters.

It might depend on the pitch.

Pitchers have a harder time getting a good grip on the ball in cold weather, so pitches that require high spin rates — and not all of them do — might be harder to throw and have less movement.

Hitters don’t like getting jammed in cold weather — it feels like an electric shock — so pitcher might be more inclined to throw inside fastballs or cutters that get in on a hitter’s hands.

Play games in November, and if they’re not played inside, temperature is going to affect the results.

If MLB does decide to play some kind of season in 2020 and schedules doubleheaders, seven-inning games and games in neutral sites, every number put up should have an asterisk.

At this point most fans would be happy to watch a T-ball game played by hyperactive 9-year-olds, so we’ll take any kind of baseball MLB can give us. But it won’t be baseball as we know it.