A look at how a 60-game Major League Baseball season impacts the Miami Marlins
At this time next month, the Miami Marlins should be set to finally see their 2020 season get under way.
How much they can make of a shortened year is to be determined.
Major League Baseball owners unanimously voted Monday night to proceed with the 2020 season under the terms of the March 26 agreement with the MLB Players Association. The agreement gave commissioner Rob Manfred the power to implement a schedule should the league and MLBPA fail to come to terms on a deal.
The final step to putting the season in place came on Tuesday, when the players is told the league they can report to their home cities to start the second round of spring training on July 1 and signed off on a lengthy operating manual that contains the health and safety provisions necessary to play the regular season and postseason.
“All remaining issues have been resolved,” the MLBPA said, “and Players are reporting to training camps.”
If all goes well from there — and if the coronavirus doesn’t cause any more delays — a 60-game season would begin either July 23 or 24. The season will include a universal designated hitter but not the expanded playoffs that were in other proposals by both the league and MLBPA that were not approved.
Here’s what you need to know about how this shortened season impacts the Marlins.
Who will the Marlins play?
While the exact schedule has not yet been finalized, it will follow a regionalized format. This means the Marlins will face nine teams during the regular season: their four National League East rivals (the Atlanta Braves, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Nationals) and the five teams in the American League East (the Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays and Toronto Blue Jays).
How have the Marlins fared through the first 60 games in recent years?
Miami has posted a winning record after 60 games just once over the past five years. That came in 2016, when the Marlins opened the season with a 31-29 mark and ended the year with a 79-82 record.
The Marlins’ 60-game records the other four years: 23-37 in 2019, 21-39 in 2018, 27-33 in 2017 and 24-36 in 2015.
How will a shortened season impact player development?
The 2020 season was supposed to be a pivotal one for several young Marlins players. Some are already in the big leagues, like third baseman/outfielder Brian Anderson, catcher Jorge Alfaro, second baseman Isan Diaz and outfielder Lewis Brinson.
Others are among the Marlins’ top prospects who were likely to make their big-league debuts. That group includes, but isn’t limited to, outfielders Monte Harrison and Jesus Sanchez; pitchers Sixto Sanchez, Edward Cabrera and Nick Neidert; shortstop Jazz Chisholm; and first baseman Lewin Diaz.
Now, the Marlins have decisions to make.
Because players can still accrue a full season of service time even in this abbreviated season, Miami will have to juggle bringing some of its top prospects up to the big-league level against the ability to hold on to an extra year of control.
With a 60-game schedule, each game is worth just over two-and-a-half games worth of service time in a regular 162-game season.
The Marlins are also going to get limited time from the bulk of their offseason acquisitions. Second baseman/center fielder Jonathan Villar, outfielder Matt Joyce and catcher Francisco Cervelli are all pending free agents after the season. Closer candidate Brandon Kintzler has a team option for 2021.
As far as the minor leagues, Marlins vice president of player development and scouting Gary Denbo said earlier this month that the organization plans to hold development camps during the summer and fall.
“All of our people are ready to go at a moment’s notice when we get permission to start,” Denbo said on a Marlins’ pre-draft video show.
Roster sizes and potential taxi squads have not yet been finalized.
Who could be the Marlins’ top DH candidates?
The adoption of a universal designated hitter allows the Marlins to tinker with different portions of their lineup and remedies some roster decisions they were going to have to make in spring training.
Should Jesus Aguilar be the team’s full-time starting first baseman (which was the case when spring training stopped), Garrett Cooper would be a natural fit for the DH spot on a regular basis.
Some of the Marlins’ top prospects (think Harrison, Jesus Sanchez, Lewin Diaz and Chisholm) could also get DH reps while getting spot starts at their positions should the Marlins choose to call any of them up during the season.
Could this benefit the Marlins’ young starting pitchers?
The Marlins last season were the only team to have its starting pitching rotation go 12 full turns without someone missing a start.
Five pitchers. Twelve starts each. That’s 60 games. And the Marlins quintet — a group at the time that included Jose Urena, Trevor Richards, Pablo Lopez, Sandy Alcantara and Caleb Smith — was among the league’s best during that time.
The five combined for a 3.88 ERA over 338 2/3 innings and struck out 302 batters at the 60-game mark of the 2019 season. Caleb Smith looked like a potential Cy Young candidate before a right hip injury made him the first casualty of the starting rotation and shut him down for a month.
The Marlins return everyone but Richards (who was traded to the Rays last July) from that group. The fifth spot in the rotation at the time spring training stopped was likely going to be held by either Jordan Yamamoto or Elieser Hernandez. Whoever doesn’t get that spot could wind up in a long relief role.
This story was originally published June 23, 2020 at 2:51 PM.
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