Cardinals Odds and Projections

An asterisk title would still be far better than no title at all. It makes sense to give it your best shot and see where the chips fall.

No doubt Dodger fans would be pretty happy if they won the Series themselves this year after their long drought.

Well they are playing 37% of a regular season so that will have to be worked into averages and so forth. Much much higher than my mathematical skills.

If the Dodgers win it all this year, it will be considered an odd ball championship.

Consider it as you wish but I will never call it as anything but odd. I mean 60 games, no minor leagues, use of a DH, 1/3rd of your season against the American League while you only play 52% of your normal division games, and last but not least, that business of starting a runner on 2B during OT games. And I haven’t even mentioned the stuff required by Covid as well as the opt outs. Are we really ready for that kind of season. I guess they will start but I forsee troubles down the road with players picking up the bug and possibly stopping the season when too many cases are encountered

Forecast how you think you will feel about this season (legitimacy or other factors), then compare that forecast with how you feel when it’s over. I wonder if it’ll be self-fulfilling prophecy, or if some end up changing their minds.

I think one of the biggest negative factors will be the missing energy due to no fans attending. Most of us enjoy the non-game elements just the same (like stats, trades, drafts, contracts, rosters, etc.). The game experience will take a hit, though, because the game atmosphere is largely due to the fans. I think it’s likely going to feel a bit hollow.

I also think this might impact the announcing. Announcers might feel compelled to force more energy into the game with more words. Al Michaels’ famous call comes to mind, “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!” After that, he went a full minute without saying another word, until he said “No words necessary.” The fan energy was telling the story, and Michaels has been frequently praised for allowing that to happen.

Joe Ficklefan rules.

There are two sides to this. It is definitely odd, as MM3 said. There will be all kinds of asterisks (official or not) for things like individual awards, especially if an underdog wins one. They’ll be called fluke-ish.

There is an upside in that each game will be much more important. I think managers will manage accordingly and we’re starting out at the beginning of a pennant drive. More games will have a playoff feel about them. Maybe that means about the same amount of excitement compacted into a smaller space.

I’m not going to be a sourpuss, but I’m also not going to add legitimacy to a ridiculously short season with big name players opting out, etc. And just playing the prospects, and not caring about winning wouldn’t sit well with the sponsors, BW. They’re between a rock and a hard place. But how players perform and complete will go a long way towards training, positioning, and developing to prepare for a hopefully legitimate season in 2021.

I smile as I say we need to add (or subtract) the loss of 10 umpires opting out but NOT Joe West or Angel Hernandez. Gonna be a lot of rookie umps working games.