With the laundry list of adjustments Major League Baseball has had to make, there's no shortage of questions entering the 2020 season. Safety protocols are going to put players in a unique situation, but keeping players from spitting or high-fiving won't be nearly as daunting as the sprint of an abbreviated season.
The Nationals' 60-game schedule brings a whole new layer of strategy the organization needs to navigate, but it's something former Mets' GM and current SiriusXM host Steve Phillips thinks they can do well.
"I actually like where they are now better than if the season started on Opening Day," said Phillips on the Nationals Talk podcast. "I worried about a bit of a hangover effect with the impact on the starting pitching, with some of the changes on the roster, and sort of coming into the season with the 'How can this year live up to what last year was?'. But I actually think that this helps them, that it's different, that it's special, it's unique. Everybody's disrupted, and I think that sort of helps light that fire back under the Nationals players."
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There's no question the mental side of this condensed season will take a toll on even the most focused players. After overcoming last season's 19-31 start, the Nationals are familiar with having their backs to the wall. Their rebound from last May's slow start to World Series champions is a big confidence builder for this veteran roster. Not to mention their starting rotation spent plenty of time in unnatural circumstances during the postseason.
"With the pitching that they have they should be in every game," Phillips continued. "I think bullpens are going to be really important though and I don't know about their bullpen."
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You're not the only one Steve. Washington had the second-worst bullpen ERA in 2019, but it's also been a conversation dating back far longer than just last year, so we're kind of used to it.
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Clearly 2020 will be different, and without a doubt, some teams will find ways to sift through the weird and figure out how to make it work.
The Nationals have a lot on their resume that suggests they'll be able to navigate all this, but we obviously won't know until we get our first real baseball again later this month.
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Former Mets GM Steve Phillips likes how the Nationals stack up in a 60-game season originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
