Miami Marlins: Three MLB short season impacts in 2020

MIAMI, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 20: Manager Don Mattingly and Derek Jeter CEO of the Miami Marlins speak during a press conference at Marlins Park on September 20, 2019 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)
MIAMI, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 20: Manager Don Mattingly and Derek Jeter CEO of the Miami Marlins speak during a press conference at Marlins Park on September 20, 2019 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)
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(Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)
(Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)

It’s time to consider three major impacts for the Miami Marlins in 2020.

MLB is hopefully back, Miami Marlins fans.

Over the past few months, a bevy of ideas and schemes on how to play the 2020 MLB season were considered. Splitting into the Cactus and Grapefruit Leagues. Putting all 30 MLB teams in one big bubble. Season lengths of as many as 114 games, and as few as 50. Vastly expanded playoffs, with a 16-team postseason, strongly pushed for in the final days of negotiations between MLB and the MLBPA. It seemed 101 possibilities were on the table for how the Miami Marlins season would play out.

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In the end, we got no deal, but a clear plan going forward. It will be a 60-game season, with no expanded playoffs, and no crazy realignment. The only wrinkle is that all of the games not played against a team’s division rivals will be played against their geographic rival league. So the Miami Marlins won’t play the Chicago Cubs or Los Angeles Dodgers at all this year- but will play the entire AL East.

So what does this mean for the Miami Marlins chances in 2020? How does this change expectations from what they were In February, as well as what they were when MLB first went into its coronavirus shutdown?

Glad you asked. Let’s dive into three big Marlins takeaways for the 60-game MLB season, starting with…