Unlike far too many Americans—but fortunately, not a majority—I know the calendar changing to 2021 won’t magically make 2020 go away. If anything, the next six months are probably going to be harder than the last six months even with two vaccines in the pipeline because we still have other public-health threats.
So maybe that’s my first wish… that we can beat back the ignorance in time to have something closer to normal for baseball. I’m not naïve enough to believe it’ll happen by April, even if MLB seems to think so.
But maybe by Memorial Day?
And if the big boys can start in late May, then maybe our guys can start by mid-June? After a season of nothing, I’d be happy with one last short season – and a chance to visit all four full-season teams in one summer (now that that can be done again).
I know when this was first broached in the comments, there were wishes for individual players. I’m not sure if I have enough strong feelings for any one player to single them out. I know that sounds like a cop-out, but hear me out.
If everyone can play again, against other teams, in games that count, with stats, boxscores, and cameras (and eventually, scouts and fans) that’ll be huge.
Carter Kieboom is no longer a prospect per se, but I’m sure a lot of you want to see him succeed after failing and flailing this past summer. In a “normal” year, he’d have been sent down to play every day at AAA for a few weeks instead of being sent down to a glorified XST for a few days.
But there are many more like Kieboom who didn’t get a chance at all, and unless the Lerners go hog-wild in free agency [pause here to allow readers to wipe off beverage spray from their screens] the Nationals need to get younger, which means they need to get their prospects (and the ones they’ll trade for) playing again.
Feel free to let us know what you’re wishing for 2021 in the comments.