2021 MLB Season Preview: The Return of 162 Games

“It is a separator, and that’s why, when you do talk about baseball as a national pastime, it is,” said Joe Maddon, the manager of the Los Angeles Angels. “After all, you come home from work any day during the summer, and either put the radio on or watch TV and see your favorite team play. And then there’s all this stir about that night, that game, your favorite player, your favorite team, what’s going on, and you can do that every night during the summer. Every night. You start in school, go through the summer, go back to school and it’s still going on.”

Last season was disorienting for many in baseball, with the 60-game season — the shortest since 1878 — representing just 37 percent of the norm. For historical legitimacy, it was helpful that the World Series teams were no fluke: The team with the best record, the Los Angeles Dodgers, defeated the team with the second-best record, the Tampa Bay Rays. But other teams were left wanting more months to prove themselves.

“You look at it after 60 games, and it’s like, obviously, that’s not how we do this,” said Maddon, whose Angels started 12-25 and then went on a 14-9 run at the end. “We need more time either to get good, or some guys need more time to go bad, and the strengths rise to the top. So it was awkward.”

Players now face the physical consequences of the abbreviated schedule; with no precedent, teams can only guess at the impact of playing a long season after a short one. The Angels will be among the teams using a six-man starting rotation to lighten the workload of each starter.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/29/sports/baseball/mlb-season-preview.html