Mets360 - Mets need to embrace changes in shortened 2020 season and beyond

Mets need to embrace changes in shortened 2020 season and beyond

by Brian Joura 

Former Green Bay Packers Director Robert C. Gallagher once noted that change is inevitable – except from a vending machine. So, why is it that we’re so resistant to change? And forget thinking about this in your personal life. Instead, think of it through the prism of your favorite sports team or league. Think about how your team and the game was like when you first started watching it. There’s been a lot of changes. But who started those changes and who did they benefit sooner rather than later?

We can break changes down into two distinct camps. First, we have changes that come from above, from MLB itself. But we also have changes that come from the bottom up – ones that come from the teams, or possibly even the players themselves. Let’s go back to my beginning days of watching the game, the early 1970s, for examples of both of these changes.

The introduction of the designated hitter was a top-down change, a gimmick introduced in the American League to help boost sagging attendance. Some teams immediately recognized how to take advantage of the change. The Angels had the highest OPS from the DH spot of any team in 1973. That year they imported Frank Robinson from the Dodgers and installed him as the team’s primary DH. He responded with a 66-point improvement in his OPS from the year before and ended up being a down-ballot MVP candidate. Meanwhile, the Royals used 15 different players in the DH spot, none with as many as 140 PA. They finished last in the league in OPS from the new position.

The change from a standard rotation being five pitchers, instead of four, was a gradual one and it’s hard to pinpoint exactly when it happened. In 1966, the Dodgers main four starters were Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Claude Osteen and Don Sutton. They combined for 154 starts. The 1971 Orioles had Jim Palmer, Mike Cuellar, Dave McNally and Pat Dobson. They combined for 142 starts. Some have suggested that the Mets were among the first teams to utilize the five-man rotation. While Drysdale had nine straight years with at least 40 starts, Tom Seaver never made more than 36 in a single season. Six different pitchers made double-digit starts for the Mets in 1969 and their top five combined for 144 or essentially what the top four for the Orioles did in 1971.

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