At the start of the 2010s, the Astros were terrible, the Cubs hadn’t won a pennant since World War II, the Yankees hadn’t gone a decade with out winning one since the 1910s. The game’s biggest controversies were about which players had used sports drugs, with Barry Bonds’ career just ended, Mark McGwire lolling about the lower reaches of the Hall of Fame ballot, and Manny Ramirez coming off a 50-game suspension. “Tanking” was an NBA problem, not a Major League Baseball one, and “shifts” were something you saw at hockey games.
In the last 10 years, baseball changed more than it did in the 40 years prior. Pitchers, aided by technologies we couldn’t imagine at the start of the decade, honed their skills to a fine point. Hitters abandoned 100 years of teaching in an effort to become machines dedicated to pulling the ball hard and in the air. Defenses countered with alignments pulled from the ’85 Bears playbook. Successive Collective Bargaining Agreements, along with explosive growth in national revenues, changed the fundamental relationship between a team’s on-field success and its financial success.
As the 2020s begin, we don’t talk about drugs as much, except around Hall voting time. The Billy Goat curse has been retired. The Astros may still be terrible, but in an entirely different way than they were 10 years ago. My 9-year-old, tragically, has never seen her Yankees in a World Series. The challenges baseball faces at the dawn of a new decade are different than any before, and they may require the kind of radical, forward thinking that has never been a strength of our game’s leaders.
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Esta historia es de la edición January 2020 de Baseball America.
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NOBODY'S PERFECT
No. 1 prospect Jackson Holliday has one flaw in an otherwise airtight profile
ORGANIZATION REPORTS
At nearly every level of his professional career, outfielder Colton Cowser has taken time to acclimate. His major league debut last season was no different.
ORGANIZATION TALENT RANKINGS
For the second consecutive year, the Orioles enter the season with the best farm system in baseball.
WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN WITH NEW ROSTER LIMITS
No one can fully predict what will happen with the reduced 165-player minor league roster limits, but baseball officials weighed in with predictions for 2024, some of which we heard repeatedly.
NO MORE SLACK IN THE SYSTEM
The in domestic minor leagues creates consternation for farm directors
INTERNATIONAL TREASURES
Why MLB teams value foreign professionals more than ever
HIGH-FLYING BIRDS
Learning from past success and failure in Houston, Mike Elias and his united front office remade the Orioles into winners— and they got there ahead of schedule
ARIZONA COMPLEX LEAGUE TOP 10
Early promotions of star prospects led to a bit of a down season for the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League.
FLORIDA COMPLEX LEAGUE TOP 10
Even before the Rookie-level Florida Complex League season began, scouts who saw extended spring training gushed over the Yankees' talent, starting with shortstop Roderick Arias and 6-foot7 pitchers Henry Lalane and Carlos Lagrange. Outfielder John Cruz mashed 10 home runs as a 17-year-old.
SALAS COULD BE SPECIAL
When Ethan Salas arrived in the California League on May 30, he immediately displayed talent well beyond his years.