Phillies: Three players who could make or break the 2020 season
By Hunter Doyle
Which Philadelphia Phillies players could decide the team’s fate in 2020?
Major League Baseball is officially back. There will be a 2020 season after all. Despite the fact that all hope seemed lost after the proposals from both the MLB and the MLBPA seemingly made no progress, commissioner Rob Manfred mandated a season. Regardless of how everyone envisioned things panning out, we will have Philadelphia Phillies baseball soon enough.
However, this certainly won’t be a typical MLB season as baseball fans know. There will only be 60 games this year, 40 of which will be versus National League East division opponents while the other 20 will be versus American League East division opponents. There will be 30-man rosters for the first two weeks of the season that will dwindle to 28 for two more weeks and then down to 26 for the remainder of the season. Major League Baseball is also using this season as a test run for some rules they’ve thought about implementing for some time such as the runner on second base at the start of extra innings and the National League DH. Also, the trade deadline will be on August 31st, and teams can have a list of 60 players available to play throughout the season.
The 2020 season will be different, to say the least. With such a short season on the horizon, the race for a World Series title could be shaken up. The Phillies could certainly benefit from playing fewer games as they appeared to be fatigued in the final months of the last two seasons. It wasn’t pretty watching them drastically decline in August and September and eventually get eliminated. Gabe Kapler’s managerial style could have affected that as well especially with his usage of relief pitchers.
Regardless of what happened in previous years, Philly is definitely in a better position to contend for a title with new manager Joe Girardi and his coaching staff. We could see a new and improved Phillies team take the field in late-July. The hope is that this team is ready for a playoff run. For that to happen, certain players have to step up in the big moments of the season unlike in previous seasons. There are always players who are major x-factors in the Phillies’ success this summer and fall.
Let’s take a look at three Phillies players who could make or break this year’s edition of Phillies baseball.