Poll

When do you think MLB will have Opening Day?

April 9.  Just a 2 week delay.
1 (2%)
May 1
6 (12%)
June 1
18 (36%)
July 1
11 (22%)
No season
14 (28%)

Total Members Voted: 50

Author Topic: Poll: Go on record, Opening Day will be.....  (Read 3142 times)

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Offline catocony

  • Posts: 739
Re: Poll: Go on record, Opening Day will be.....
« Reply #25: March 18, 2020, 08:00:47 PM »
My vote would be "it depends" on if they want to get creative with things.  Hear me out:

Spring training is mostly for pitchers.  Since guys are training year round now, players don't need to go to training for 5-6 weeks to lose 15 pounds, or to relearn their eye-hand coordination or whatever.  So, position players only need a couple of weeks of at-bats to get back their hitting eye.

Pitchers do need repetition and the gradual addition of workload to get ready for 6+ innings.  So, if I were able to make up rules, I would target early May, with the idea that guys could get back to spring training about a month or so from now.  Since starting pitchers would not be stretched out, I would go with an expanded roster so teams could carry 15 or so pitchers.  Starters get in 3-4 innings their first time round, then add on from there.  After 3 weeks, reduce the rosters back to 26.

Would games look a bit weird as a hybrid regular-season/spring training outing?  Sure, but it would allow them to get in 124-130 games or so.  Eliminate the all-star game, move the playoffs back a week or two, maybe have some planned double headers with expanded rosters, and they get even more games in , like 140 or so.