How MLB Games Could Look Different in the 2020 Season

SI's Tom Verducci breaks down a twist that could make this season unique

Tom Verducci | Jun 8, 2020

With the MLB and MLBPA still working to finalize a deal to begin the 2020 MLB season, SI's Tom Verducci looks back at the 1981 season, which was delayed by a strike, to juxtapose the 2020 season and how it could be played differently than previous years.

If Major League Baseball returns in 2020, what might the actual style of the games look like? Well, for clues, you might want to go back to 1981 when baseball returned in August after missing two months because of the players strike. Back then, offense went up just slightly in August. But that's not really applicable, because in 1981, in August, rosters remained at 25 per team. There was no expansion of the rosters.

This time around, owners and players are talking about 30-man rosters with 15-man pitching staffs. So the most apt analogy is probably September, when rosters expand. Last year in September, the average number of pitching changes made per team per game increased from 3.2 to 4.1. And the Major League batting average decreased from .254 to .244 in September. Fifteen-man pitching staffs? You're probably looking at more pitching changes and less offense.

Published Jun 8, 2020

TOM VERDUCCI

Tom Verducci is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated who has covered Major League Baseball since 1981. He also serves as an analyst for FOX Sports and the MLB Network; is a New York Times best-selling author; and cohosts The Book of Joe podcast with Joe Maddon. A five-time Emmy Award winner across three categories (studio analyst, reporter, short form writing) and nominated in a fourth (game analyst), he is a three-time National Sportswriter of the Year winner, two-time National Magazine Award finalist, and a Penn State Distinguished Alumnus Award recipient. Verducci is a member of the National Sports Media Hall of Fame, Baseball Writers Association of America (including past New York chapter chairman) and a Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 1993. He also is the only writer to be a game analyst for World Series telecasts. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, with whom he has two children.