What a year 2020 has been. The baseball season started like it does every year with spring training taking place in Florida and Arizona in mid February as normal even though there was chatter about something called the coronavirus taking place and that a world-wide pandemic was imminent.
Then it happened, on March 12th Major League Baseball announced it had cancelled the remainder of its Spring Training games, also announcing that the start of the 2020 regular season would be delayed by at least two weeks due to the national emergency created by the coronavirus pandemic. https://twitter.com/i/status/1238181980367466496
There is was, the first domino in MLB to topple. After that lots of crap happened as MLB and the the Major League Players Association could not agree on how the 2020 season if any would be played. How much would the players be paid, how many games would be played in 2020, what would the rules be, would fans be able to attend the games, how about the playoffs? MLB told MiLB that they would not be providing players for the upcoming season so minor league baseball as we know it was dead for 2020. Eventually as time was running out for a 2020 MLB season to take place an agreement was reached.
The agreed upon number of games was 60 with some teams starting play on July 23 and other on July 24 and the divisions as we previously knew them gone by the wayside. All the teams would play an “inter-league” schedule all season with everyone using the DH because of the new division layouts and eight teams from each league would make the playoffs. There were lots of other changes too like doubleheaders were seven innings games, extra inning games started with a runner on second base, roster sizes were totally different and some players chose to sit out the season versus take the health risk of catching COVID-19 and spreading it to their families. Due to travel restrictions between Canada and the United States, the Toronto Blue Jays played all their home games in the Buffalo AAA ballpark that was hurriedly modified to meet minimal MLB standards and the big item of course for fans was that no fans were allowed to go to any ballpark to watch a game. Did I mention that all the AL playoff games after the Wild Card series were played in a “bubble” in San Diego and Los Angeles and the same applied to the NL except their games were played in Arlington and Houston? The World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Tampa Bay Rays was played in the Texas Rangers new ballpark in Arlington. There were many other changes but I can’t cover them all here.
Bottom line is that baseball was a totally different game then we had previously been accustomed to and the “old school” me did not like it one bit. When I first heard that there would be a 60 game season with COVID-19 running amok I thought that the chances for the season and playoffs to take place were about slim and none. I see the MLB season as a marathon and not a 60 game sprint and I was not a fan of over half the teams making the playoffs. There were other things I didn’t like either but there is no reason for me to list them all here. I have been following baseball since the mid fifties and I have seen my share of changes in MLB over the years but 2020 was too much for this old-timer. But in the end I was wrong, MLB managed to pull it off even though some strange things took place along the way.
I followed the Minnesota Twins this season like I have since 1961 but my heart was just not in it. Sure, I watched Twins games on TV when I had time but I didn’t make it a point to not do something else because the Twins game was on TV. Not being able to go to the ballpark, the season being just 60 games long and all the rule changes? All this made the 2020 MLB season an “asterisk” season for me. None of the stats are real and even if the Minnesota Twins had won the World Series it would not have counted in my heart, it was just like MLB had played an extra long Spring Training exhibition schedule. I know the Twins won the AL Central Division title and the Dodgers won the World Series but when I look back on the 2020 MLB season it will always be that they did it with a 60 game schedule.
So it is only fair that in a landslide vote we select COVID-19 as the 2020 Turkey of the Year.
It is not like we didn’t have any other worthy candidates to pick from because we did. Here is a list of Twins players in no particular order that were in the running but came up a just a little bit short, much like their performances on the field in 2020.
Let’s start with Josh Donaldson the free agent third baseman the Twins brought in that was paid $18.75 million and appeared in 28 games hitting .222 in 81 AB’s.
We could also point a finger at catcher Mitch Garver who had 72 AB’s and couldn’t even hit his weight hitting a paltry .167 in 23 games.
Then we can look at first baseman Miguel Sano who slugged 13 home runs but put up a batting average of .204 and struck 90 times (48.4%) in 186 AB’s.
How about outfielder Max Kepler who played most everyday and had just 23 RBI and a .228 batting average.
Super utility man Marwin Gonzalez appeared in 53 of the 60 games but hit .211, I wouldn’t call that super.
Jake Odorizzi who was supposed to be one of the Twins top starters started 4 games for the Twins pitching 13.2 innings posting a 6.59 ERA with an 0-1 record.
Homer Bailey who the Twins signed for a “bargain basement” price of $7 million was supposed to be in the Twins starting rotation but started one game and went on the Injured List. But fought his way back to start one more game for Minnesota at the tail-end of the season and lasted 3 innings before the Twins unloaded him on the Dodgers where he didn’t pitch but somehow the Twins persuaded the Dodgers to pick up $5 million of the money owed to Bailey.
And we close with closer Taylor Rogers who posted his career worst ERA of 4.05 and a career worst H/9 of 11.7 which caused his WHIP to jump from 1.000 in 2019 to 1.5000 in 2020.
Yes, all these Minnesota Twins players had a bad year and yet the Twins managed to find a way to win the AL Central Division title even though they once again failed to win a single postseason game since 2004 and extend their postseason losing streak to an incredible 18 straight games. Oh My!
Thank you all for stopping by Twinstrivia.com this season and we wish all of you a safe, healthy and Happy Thanksgiving. Remember, this COVID-19 thing too will pass.
