MLB Notebook: Taking some guesses about what the 2020 baseball season may look like

For now, we don't know what we don't know.

We don't know when baseball will return, and when it does, what it will look like. Will it have its standard 162-game schedule? Will it have a shortened schedule? Will the postseason format be the same?

Decisions on these matters -- and other issues that we can't yet anticipate -- will be made in the coming weeks and months.

What's certain is that baseball -- and all other sports, for that matter -- are about to experience something unprecedented. Sure there have been odd seasons before, due to wars, acts of terrorism and labor strife.

But we've never faced something like this before.

That makes predicting what lies ahead so perilous. But also, in some ways, a fun exercise.

So let's tackle a few likely scenarios/possible truisms/complete guesses and see what we can come up with in anticipation of what awaits us for the 2020 season, shall we?

1. Pitching will be even more important than usual.

Pitching is almost always paramount, and that's never been more true than now. Whichever teams manage their pitchers best over the shutdown will be that much better prepared when the season re-starts.

With most players seemingly headed home, it will be incumbent on pitchers to maintain some semblance of a throwing program in the interim. Spring training is as long as it is chiefly because of the need for pitchers to build arm strength. Given year-round conditioning, most hitters could be ready for games in a couple of weeks. It's a matter of getting their timing down.



But pitchers need more time to build arm strength. Without proper preparation under game conditions, pitchers are prone to ineffectiveness  (remember the Red Sox starters in April of 2019?) or worse, injury.

We don't know how long a second spring training will last, but it's a safe bet that it's not going to be seven weeks. Time will be of the essence and MLB will want to begin the regular season as quickly as it can, so as to not push the World Series to Thanksgiving. Thus, there will be some need to get ready quickly.

That will be accomplished far easier if pitchers do their best to stay stretched out. If they become deconditioned during the layoff, there won't be sufficient time to ramp back up when teams re-assemble for Spring Training II -- The Sequel.

2. When it comes to pitching, look for widespread use of the opener and other piggy-backing tandems.

Few pitchers are going to be sufficiently stretched out to throw 90 or so pitches in the early part of the schedule, so teams -- even those with good, deep rotations -- will be forced to divvy up the workload. After giving Gerrit Cole $324 million, do you think the Yankees are going to him risk having to go six or seven innings on Opening Day? Think again.

Openers will be in vogue. The first few weeks of the season will look more like spring training with starters initially going three innings or so, followed by a steady parade of relievers going an inning or so. Teams could even utilize two starters on the same day, with each being asked to contribute three or four innings. Inevitably, that will also lead to more bullpen games.

3. Expect rosters to be expanded at the start.

Again, chiefly due to concern about injuries to pitchers early in the season, teams will need additional arms to get through the first month of the season. Already, rosters were set to expand from 25 to 26 this year, with the number of pitchers capped at 13. That can't continue in the early going.

It's patently obvious that teams will need more than 13 pitchers to survive the uncertainty of the season's first few weeks. But that will require some agreement between MLB and the MLB Players Association on matters such as accrued service time, players on split-contracts, etc.

Here's hoping that the mistrust that exists between the sides can be put aside for the good of the game and the health and well-being of the players.

4. Depth and versatility will be more important than ever.

The demands on position players won't be quite as extreme as those placed on pitchers. As noted, thanks to improved year-round training, improved nutrition and other conditioning elements, players in general are in far better shape than they've ever been.

Still, after an extended downtime, minor injuries such as muscle pulls and strains are almost certain to be more common. That will require having useful bench players to fill in at least occasionally. And given that, even with expanded rosters, teams can't expect to have a backup at every position, versatility will be critical.

The Red Sox would seem better positioned than most here. Catchers Jonathan Lucroy and Christian Vazquez can each help out at first. Michael Chavis can play first, second, third and perhaps the outfield. Jose Peraza can play second, shortstop and the outfield. Even Rule 5 selection Jonathan Arauz can handle second, short, third and the outfield. Tzu-Wei Lin is similarly usable in both the infield and outfield.

5. This will be a chance for Chaim Bloom to shine.

Take a look at Bloom's resume. Until being hired by the Red Sox last fall, he had spent 15 years in an organization (Tampa Bay Rays) accustomed to doing more with less and finding innovative methods (best exemplified by the opener) to help maneuver against more talented (and deep-pocketed) rivals.

In other words, Bloom has some experience when it comes to finding creative solutions. Bloom isn't tied to convention and has been unafraid to experiment to find answers.

Already, he's demonstrated an affinity for roster churn. On the job since the end of October, Bloom has already imported 13 players from outside the organization to the 40-man roster. Since it seems a given that Lucroy will be part of the Opening Day roster, that number will grow to at least 14, or 35 percent of the roster.

The last shortened season (1995), while created by very different circumstances (labor stoppage), featured plenty of roster turnover. There's no reason to think 2020 will be any different in that regard.

Players will come and go. Players will be optioned to the minors, then recalled later. Upgrades from outside the organization will be sought. Waiver claims will be made.

And none of this will be new for Bloom.

6. Ron Roenicke's personality and experience could be essential qualities.

Although we're in uncharted territory, there isn't much that Roenicke hasn't seen and experienced in his baseball life, which stretched more than four decades. Roenicke has been a player, a minor league manager, a major league coach and a major league manager. He's experienced virtually every aspect of the game.

He also has a calm, steadying presence to him, which will come in handy in the coming weeks and months. Very little rattles him.

Already, he's been through a tumultuous tenure with the Sox, experiencing the highs of the 2018 championship season and the lows of the disappointing 2019 campaign. He's seen the trading of his best player, dealt with the uncertainty of MLB's ongoing sign-stealing investigation and had his first spring training interrupted by a pandemic.

When camp resumes, Roenicke will have the benefit of planning countless spring trainings as the bench coach for Mike Scioscia and Alex Cora. He'll be organized and efficient.

Once the season begins, roster talent and performance will determine how the Red Sox fare. But it can't hurt to have a steady, calm presence in the dugout, overseeing what will be a season like no other in the history of the game.

I had advocated for the Red Sox hiring someone outside the organization, someone young with whom the Sox could grow -- not unlike what they did when hired Cora. But given what's happened, the Sox are lucky to have someone with the experience and temperament of Roenicke in charge.

7. Chris Sale could benefit from the shutdown.

Sale wasn't going to be ready for the original March 26 opener after missing the first couple of weeks of spring training due to the affect-effects of the flu and mild pneumonia. Then, more ominously, he was further slowed by a strained flexor muscle after completing a 15-pitch live batting practice session almost two weeks ago.

It's conceivable that although an MRI revealed no changes to Sale's ulnar collateral ligament, he could require surgery and be lost for the remainder of 2020 -- regardless of when the season starts or concludes.

But it's also possible that Sale is just dealing with something relatively minor (Drew Pomeranz dealt with the same issue with the Sox and missed minimal time). In that case, with the start of the season delayed, Sale might be sidelined for fewer games.

Say the season resumes in early May. The lefty will have had almost two months to rest, recover and begin to build up again and be ready to go when the schedule is picked up.

Yes, that could be an overly rosy scenario. But it's not completely out of the question.

8. A revamped schedule could feature the return of the doubleheader.

No matter when the season starts, owners will be trying to find ways to squeeze as many games as possible into a condensed time frame. The easiest way to do that is to have additional doubleheaders, even if they're of the day-night, separate admission variety.

While it will take some work, MLB could make up missed games with regularly-scheduled (every Saturday?) doubleheader.

That won't provide extra value for fans, since they'll still be getting just one game per ticket purchased, but it will enable baseball to make up for lost time and eliminate the need to extend the regular season deep into October.