The 2020 Major League Baseball season is set to begin in three days and one team doesn’t know where it will play its home games this year. Seriously.
On this week’s WISE Sports Radio baseball segment, we discuss the Toronto Blue Jays not being allowed to play in Canada because of COVID-19 travel concerns, Yasiel Puig no longer playing for the Atlanta Braves, and storylines to watch for the 2020 season.
With the NFL playoffs underway, baseball is off the stage with offseason news — especially when the top free agents have signed now. But there are still some transactions going on while baseball gears up for its next wave of activity, probably around February before teams prepare for spring training.
That’s what we covered on Monday’s WISE Sports Radio baseball segment. I really like what the Washington Nationals are doing, building depth instead of throwing big money at stars (other than keeping Stephen Strasburg). Pat Ryan and I also covered Yoenis Cespedes encountering a wild boar, and two shows that Pat’s been binging on Netflix.
Shortly before our Monday baseball segment on WISE Sports Radio, Stephen Strasburg re-signing with the Washington Nationals hit the news machine. It’s an encouraging start to baseball’s winter meetings, which has traditionally been where big offseason news occurs but has been disappointingly quiet the past couple of years.
Pat Ryan and I also discussed the Modern Era Committee’s inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame, Ted Simmons and Marvin Miller. Not as flashy or controversial as last year, when Harold Baines was voted in. Miller, in particular, has been long deserving for his role in forever changing baseball’s economics.
The Houston Astros seem to be sinking deeper and deeper into their sign-stealing scandal. How far up did this go in 2017? Well, reports have the team’s special assistant to the general manager directing scouts to film signals from the opposing dugout. The exec in question also happens to be a former baseball writer, something I covered for Awful Announcing.
Also on WISE Sports Radio‘s Monday baseball segment, Pat Ryan and I discussed the future of the Washington Nationals and a very nice payday they’ll be getting, along with the Pittsburgh Pirates hiring a new general manager.
If it’s true that you ain’t tryin’ if you ain’t cheatin’, the Houston Astros have apparently been trying very hard as they’ve become one of the best teams in baseball. According to former Astros pitcher Mike Fiers, there was a whole lot of trying, in terms of stealing signs from the opposition, in 2017 when Houston won the World Series.
That’s just one of the topics Pat Ryan and I discussed on Wednesday’s WISE Sports Radio baseball segment. We also talk about the Manager of the Year award winners and look ahead to the Cy Young Award and Most Valuable Player announcements.
[Note: There was a glitch in the recording around the 13:10 mark, some kind of hiccup with my internet connection. Sorry about that.]
Ian Casselberry