Major League Baseball is shaping up to have a short season in 2020, and it will be interesting to see how the season shapes up if the league can start in a timely manner.
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00:00 Of course, we're well past opening day, or what was supposed to be opening day for baseball,
00:04 but Major League Baseball is trying to salvage the season.
00:07 For more, I'm joined by senior writer Tom Verducci.
00:10 Tom, what do you think is the best possible plan for a shortened season that could work
00:15 logistically for MLB?
00:17 Well, I do think they're okay with a shortened season because most of the television money
00:22 is tied up in postseason play.
00:24 So they really want to stage a postseason.
00:26 To get there, obviously, you need regular season to be played.
00:30 And in this case, I think it could be as short as, say, two months of baseball.
00:35 Now, it'll look totally different because this is an ad hoc season.
00:38 We don't know when baseball would begin.
00:41 But what I think they can do is cut down on travel by rearranging the schedule, just put
00:46 the original schedule away, and have teams play their inside division opponents home
00:52 and home, and then play against the opponents of the other division in the other league.
00:57 For instance, the National League East would go play the American League East.
01:01 That would really cut down on travel.
01:03 It would give you about two months of sort of round-robin play.
01:06 And then I think what you would see is an expanded postseason.
01:09 Now, remember, back in January, the owners presented to the players a new idea for the
01:14 postseason for 2022.
01:16 Seven teams in each team, in each league, would make the playoffs.
01:19 There'd be a first-round series of games, not a wild card, best out of three, in one
01:25 park.
01:26 So I think whether it's that idea or something else, if and when baseball returns, be prepared
01:31 to see baseball kind of like you've never seen it before.
01:34 It's the time to experiment.
01:36 And I think any kind of baseball at this point would be good baseball.
01:40 Yeah.
01:41 I mean, do you think something like that -- and this would apply to the NBA, I believe, as
01:45 well -- could amplify the interest because of the unique circumstances we're in?
01:50 I think you're absolutely right.
01:52 Listen, there's been talk about playing double-headers with seven-inning games, deciding extra-inning
01:57 games with runners on second base, tiebreakers starting the inning.
02:01 Anything that gets more games in in a short period of time, I think that's all on the
02:05 table.
02:06 And I think baseball experience -- its experience after 9/11, when it really was a gathering
02:11 place for Americans to kind of get back to normalcy after the terrorist attacks, I think
02:17 baseball thinks it can play a very similar role here.
02:21 If and when we get the clearance that we can resume somewhat normal social activities,
02:25 I think baseball really wants to be out in the forefront.
02:29 And usually we get to July and August, and generally baseball has the sports calendar
02:34 mostly to itself.
02:35 Now, we don't know what the NBA is going to do, what the NHL might do in terms of their
02:39 resumptions.
02:40 But I think baseball, because of the nature of the sport, being outside, playing every
02:44 game, sees itself as being able to play an important role, even if it's only a regular
02:49 season that lasts one or two months.
02:52 Tom, appreciate your time, as always.
02:55 Thank you.
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