The Litchfield Blues’ 2020 amateur baseball season is already unlike any other, but could get even more unusual depending on what happens with COVID-19.
North Star League play usually begins in May, giving the team some room for error and development, and for the manager to know what his best lineup/pitching rotation is. But this year, league games started in July, with the Blues opening their league season Sunday with a 6-4 loss to the Loretto Larks.
With about a third of the games the team would normally play, there’s no time to ease into the season. If teams want a shot at the playoffs, they’ve got to hit the ground running.
“We’re not going to see our normal home and away league games,” Blues manager John Anderson said. “That means if we’re going to see them once, you might as well say it’s as good as two games in a normal season. The importance of playing well and winning the games that you should win, that’s the biggest part of it. We can’t really have an off day.”
More times than not during a normal season, league teams play each other twice. But with just one game, that will be the tie-breaker if any ties occur at the end of the season. If a team can rattle off three, four wins in a row, it could put them in the driver’s seat in the league and in good position to make the playoffs.
In Major League Baseball there’s a saying called the dog days of August, because that’s when many teams begin to feel the effects of a long season. It’s the point in the season where a playoff push begins for some, while other teams might just fold. For amateur baseball, it’s the dog days of July, which for this season, is a blessing and a curse.
“It’s kind of drag a little bit, and you’re playing in some hot weather games,” Anderson said. “But these guys should be champing at the bit to be getting on the field and competing — hopefully, pushing some of these really good league teams to the limit and getting some wins out of the deal.”
The Blues have tried to keep the same approach as they would a normal season, while being aware that time is limited to make the decisions on what the lineup will look like, what the rotation will look like, and so on.
“In a normal season, we’ve got all this time to see who’s bringing what to the table,” Anderson said. “I’m going into tonight with an OK idea of what I want to do for a lineup. But there’s still room to tweak the lineup. But in a normal season, you got this time to develop and get these guys warmed up... When you get into the swing of things in July, for sure in a normal year, you’ve got a lineup that you can trust. Whereas right now, I’ve got a lineup and it could definitely change by mid-July.”
There is a lot to figure out in a short amount of time if teams want a high seed and to make some noise in the playoffs. It is sure set up for a wild finish.
“It’s definitely a different feeling that, I mean, anything can happen in a shortened season,” Anderson said. “You’ll see that topic be brought up with the MLB where, oh, they only have 60 games to see how it can play out. Well, how about 10.”
Loretto Larks 6, Litchfield Blues 4 (July 5)
Litchfield... 000 003 001 – 4
Loretto...... 000 000 60X – 6
Litch stats:
Batting: Dylan Koll 2-4, 1RBI; Matt Spreiter 1-5, 1R; Owen Boerema 2-3, 1SB; Brady Smith 1-4, 2RBI, 12B, 1R; Jacob Jones 1-4; Gabe Lecher 2-4, 1RBI; Toby Chellin 0-3; Drew Kotzer 1-1, 1SB, 1R; Kal Volinkaty 0-3; Jack Ramthun 0-1; Bret Wendlandt 0-4
Pitching: O Boerema 6IP-4H-3BB-10K; Stan Ridgeway 0.2IP-6R-6ER-4H-3BB; J Ramthun 0.1 IP-1BB; D Koll 1IP
