Baseball 2020: An overview
It’s been a frustrating few years for baseball magazine season preview publishers. The sport in general declined in the national consciousness, first of all. The internet just about destroyed the print publication enterprise, secondly. But thirdly, baseball’s offseason got slower.
Used to be, the sport’s big offseason transactions got wrapped up by December, maybe the first of the year, the publishers could get their big season preview stuff put together, the magazine could come out in March, and everything would make sense. Sure, there would be the occasional middle reliever, utility infielder who would sign late, but there wasn’t anything of real substance that we had to figure out come February.
In recent years? Baseball decided to say the hell with Street & Smith’s and company, with the Stephen Drews and Ian Desmonds and J.D. Martinezes and … you know, whoever, guys signing late, throwing magazines’ publish schedules out of whack.
This year? Yasiel Puig remains unsigned, which isn’t that huge a deal but is worth noting (and get on that Yankees or Cleveland, c’mon). But the Mookie Betts trade went down Feb. 10. There are magazines on the newsstands right now that have previews with things like “Hey, here’s what the Red Sox look like with Mookie Betts and David Price, even though we know they might not start the season with the team because press times still exist and we’re just screwed, but please pay money for us anyway.”
The point is, sports season previews are now an internet game, especially baseball. Football, basketball, those sports get crazy active when the new league years start, and within a couple weeks things are slow and the big names have found homes. Now, that’s in part because the other sports have salary caps and artificial constraints on how much money a player can be paid, so why wait on signing, and that’s not exactly the way the world should be. But on the other hand, when you write a football preview, you can be reasonably assured that preview will stay previewed. Baseball? I’m publishing this on Monday, and who knows, maybe Puig signs Tuesday and renders at least part of my preview moot.
Anyway, that’s the overall status of previewing baseball. And now to actual baseball.
Fun fact: Since 1983, when Dale Murphy won his second of back-to-backs, Barry Bonds and Albert Pujols are the only players to win multiple National League MVPs. In the same span, six different American Leaguers have done the trick, most recently Mike Trout just this past season. On the flip side, the National League has cornered the market on Cy Young do-overs, with Jacob deGrom winning the last two after Max Scherzer won the two before that just after Clayton Kershaw won three in four years just after Tim Lincecum won two in a row not long after Randy Johnson won four straight not long after … you get it. There have been guys win multiple in the American League too, but not nearly as many.
Does any of that mean anything? No, not really. But it is interesting.
Also interesting: Of all the active players to lead the league in Baseball-Reference’s WAR (there are seven), six currently play in a West Division (all but Bryce Harper). Stretch it to top two in WAR, all but Harper, Aaron Judge, and Robinson Cano play in the West. Top three, only add deGrom and Andrew McCutchen. Eight of last year’s top 10 are in the West. And so on. That’s a lot of words to say that a lot of talent is concentrated out west right now, with the clear World Series favorite (the Dodgers) playing in California, the clear best player in baseball (Mike Trout) playing in California, the likely American League favorite (the Astros) in the West. The Yankees, Red Sox, and Cubs command the headlines, and because of time zones they command the eyeballs, but man, the focus of baseball is out Pacificward this year.
Does that mean we’re heading for a Dodgers-Astros World Series? I mean, it’s probably the favorite right now, but not necessarily. There are too many variables to guarantee that. But it does mean that, while you’re sleeping comfortably in Eastern Daylight Time (assuming that’s where you are) this summer, you’ll be missing a lot of the best baseball in the game being played under the lights in Pacific Time.
I’m rolling out my 2020 baseball season preview this week. Today was the overview. Tuesday I’ll preview the American League; Wednesday I’ll hit the NL. And then Thursday, I’ll look ahead to the playoffs, award winners, and other notable takeaways. Welcome to baseball season! (Please don’t sign until I’m done, Yasiel.)