MLB 2020 Season, What to Watch For ... If It Happens!
The baseball world was not immune to the COVID-19 effects, cancelling the remainder of Spring Training and delaying the season substantially. With no end in sight for now in regards to the Corona virus, the season is likely to skip what would be the entire first half of the season. This delay will have everlasting effects on the 2020 baseball campaign. The questions now arise, based on the 2019 season:
What teams will be ecstatic to play just the second half and what players really turned it on post all-star break?
Second Half Teams (Based on 2019)
Oakland A’s: In 2019 the ball club posted a first half record of 51-41 (.544), a solid first half nonetheless. It is what the Athletics did in the second half of the year that the team will want to repeat in the 2020 season. As the summer heated up in the bay area, so did the Oakland A’s bats, finishing the season with a record of 97-65 (.599). The team loved staying at home with an astounding second half record of 26-9 at the Coliseum. The team got hot at the right time, unfortunately the Astros were hotter and claimed the AL West crown leaving the A’s cheatedout of a great season.
Washington Nationals: The Nationals if anyone want to forever disregard the first half of the 2019 season, with a dismal record of 47-42 (.522) at the break. Not only did the team streak together the best second half in baseball, their season will go down in history. The team finished the season on a terror winning 9 of their last 10 and solidifying their spot in the NL Wildcard with a record of 93-69 (.574). That wasn’t enough from the team out of the nation’s capital; they would go on to win their first ever World Series in a classic David vs. Goliath matchup over the Houston Astros.
Second Half Players (Based on 2019)
Chris Davis (BAL): The former all-star went through a stretch that had never been done before in the first half. Not to his liking or the rest of the Baltimore faithful, it was not a positive one. Chris Davis started the year 0 for 33 with 16 strikeouts. This got to a point where as a baseball or merely human fan, you were pulling for him to end this skid. The drought dated back to September 15 of the previous year and in the end totaled a 0 for 54 streak. Chris may not have had the best recovery in 2019 but the fact that he will not be faced with that situation again in 2020, makes Chris Davis the biggest fan of the second half.
Nelson Cruz (MIN): The designated hitter had a new home in 2019, coming to Minnesota from Seattle in the off-season. The now Twin, Nelson Cruz had a first half plagued by injury. After the break, he became the face of the Bomba Squad; hitting 25 bombas in the second half. His veteran leadership seemed unparalleled in the Twins clubhouse, and oh yeah he hit everything not just homeruns. Nelson Cruz posted a batting average of .344 post all-star break and an incredible OPS of 1.147 leading the Twins to an AL Central title. The Twins ended up falling to the Yankees in the 2019 ALDS, proving the curse is real……..(Foreshadowing of the next post).
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