MLB PREVIEW 202025short-term goal is playing out the
year with no setbacks and injuries,”
he says. “And whatever the Angels
have me scheduled to do, I want to
fulfill that schedule.
“It’s hard to set long-term goals,
especially when it comes to individual
awards. Because if I continue to do
both I’m not going to get enough
starts to win the Cy Young or enough
at bats to win MVP or Silver Slugger.
So I don’t try to focus on individual
awards. Of course, it would be nice to
win them, but the only long-term goal
is winning the World Series.”
During the Edo period in Japan,coaches, the manager—to proceed
with caution with his workload.
Maddon has talked about letting
Ohtani bat in games he pitches, but if
that happens it won’t be until late in
the season. The Angels will begin with
the protocols that applied to Ohtani
in Japan: a day off before and after
each pitching appearance. “Relative
to our position in September I might
[relax] those a little bit,” Eppler says.
“Or in October, as my mentor Brian
Cashman would say, all bets are off.”
Ohtani’s heaviest workload oc-
curred in ’16, when he made 20 starts
and had 382 plate appearances. “My
people planted Nashi pear trees to
repel misfortune. The fruits are trea-
sured not just for their beauty and
f lavor but also as symbols of seasons—
spring when their white f lowers blos-
som and late summer and early fall
when the golden orbs ripen—and are
so revered they are given as gifts.
This is how an uninterrupted dou-
ble-dut y season of Ohta ni should be
received. Not as a wonder of athleti-
cism, an homage to Ruth, the f lour-
ishing of a generational talent or a
simple expression of love of a com-
plicated game, though it is all that.
But as a gift. ¼ZfejgZlflj]\Xkli\j have the most to say about how baseball _Xj\mfcm\[ek\
last quarter-century.
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to have the team’s
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from the clubhouse.
Now, though,
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our baseball guysXe[]fifligcXp\ij#È
says Rob Matwick,
Texas’s executive
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(That “baseball guys”
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area across from
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an auxiliary training
room across the hall.
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cages are right
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the service tunnel
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to absorb the
wealth of in-game
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between innings.
With its roof
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extracurricular
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baseball game, but
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The team says it
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know if 100 years
is the right answer,”
Matwick says.
Ç9lk@Ê[gifYXYcp
feel comfortable
saying 5 0.”
—Emma Baccellieri5
Because...
MORE DOUBLE-
DUTY TALENT IS
ON THE WAYRays rookie
Brendan
McKay, 24,
may soon be
the majors’
next two-way
star. True, his
stellar season
at Triple A
Durham in ’19
(0.84 ERA,
.839 OPS)
gave way to
a rough three
months in
MLB (5.14 ERA,
.773 OPS). But
then again, a
good day at DH
can erase the
memory of a
bad start—and
vice versa.
—Connor
Grossman