Before we get started at some point a team will be declared the champion of the 2020 season. Will there be an asterisk? 

Do you think it will ever be considered a legit win? Will it matter what team wins? It seems like if a long shot wins there will always be a but when describing the win. 

Legit if you win, fraud if you don't. 

Of course it will be legit, everyone is playing under the same rules. Why would there be a need for asterisk? 

 

Maybe for single season stats, if some bats .435, it's fair to put an asterisk stating it was only 60 games.

Edited July 21, 20205 yr by Whiterat29

If the league isn’t decimated by Covid, I’ll view it as a legit season, just shorter...and different. Unfortunately, if the teams in the World Series haven’t been good in recent years, more people will view it as an asterisk season, but nothing you can do about that.

As for individual accomplishments, I’m not really interested. Batting .400 would be a footnote. It’s more of a team game this season.

* for sure but who cares?

Watching the White Sox win the world series this year would feel different than 2005. It will be looked at differently. It's a legit win, though, IMO. Every team is playing under the same rules. 

If Cubs, legit.

 

If Sox "iT oNlY hApPeNeD dUe To ShOrTeNeD sEaSoN"

Edited July 22, 20205 yr by DoUEvenShift

31 minutes ago, DoUEvenShift said:

If Cubs, legit.

 

If Sox "iT oNlY hApPeNeD dUe To ShOrTeNeD sEaSoN"

Now . now, don't get that feeling sorry for ourselves . 2nd team in the 2nd city nonsense blues, brother. It's all good.

100% legit.  Every team is playing with the same deck.  The deck is just different in the pandemic.

If they play a full post season, I’d say it’s legit.

Edited July 22, 20205 yr by Middle Buffalo

It’s legit no matter what.  In fact, this will be a year everybody remembers.  Plus there are new rules and new regional competition.  It’s cool AF.  
 

Somebody bats .700? Great!  

Generally  games seem less competitive during the season than they do during the playoffs.  If they played 200 games it wouldn't make the 162 game season less legitimate. The World Series was shortened to 7 games . So what?  You play to win and the winner gets their ass crowned.

3 hours ago, Gunzaan said:

* for sure but who cares?

This. No different than hockey and the NBA as well. 

47 minutes ago, SoxAce said:

This. No different than hockey and the NBA as well. 

Euro soccer has pulled it off almost without a hitch.  Quality of play is the same and hell, even the piped in noise manages to cross the uncanny valley for the most part.  Obviously there are certain, lets just say "structural" differences between our response to COVID and the Euro zone's but given the testing in place we should be able to have a season that is quite normal in most aspects and very abnormal is a couple (length and no fans).

Frankly I don't think the players after a week will even notice.  Athletes adapt.  Us fans will too.  One thing to look forward to is just how much banter you'll pickup now.  

Edited July 22, 20205 yr by chitownsportsfan

Some of the records might not seem legit. For example, if someone hits .400, it won’t feel like as big of an accomplishment.

I mean, in some ways I'd almost enjoy it more. It, quite frankly to me, will not be as authentic an accomplishment as the marathon 163 game season and playoffs leading to a championship.

But, if by some amazing luck we'd win this year it would almost certainly be more memorable on the national conscience, if that's what you care about. Asterisk be damned.

There is no tv in production, no movies to go to, restaurants to go out in and likely in the foreseeable future. This will be a much more communal experience than a typical World Series, quite frankly. It would be an incredibly fun distraction to have the white sox be the main topic of conversation around the country, I just wouldn't care if it was considered "lesser", it will certainly stand out. It would be one that every sport fan remembers as trivia, and boy, the 2005 team is not that (nationally). Maybe as obscure trivia.

I will feel bad for the fans. TV is fine but going to playoff games in any sport is always very special.  Obviously all us die-hards are ecstatic MLB as well as the other sports are returning.  But I think World Series games w cardboard fans will always come along w an asterisk for the fans. 

Honestly, it would be pretty bs to get to the World Series only to find out a day or two before half your roster tests positive with COVID. Definitely thinking this season deserves an asterisk for sure.

24 minutes ago, soxfan2014 said:

Honestly, it would be pretty bs to get to the World Series only to find out a day or two before half your roster tests positive with COVID. Definitely thinking this season deserves an asterisk for sure.

Pretty sure everybody is going to remember the Covid season without some tiny little asterisk.  Where are we putting the asterisk anyway?  On Bref?  In the HOF?

How about ☣️ 

"Line drive to Anderson, he's got it and The Chicago White Sox are 2020 World Champions".....meanwhile on ESPN...."The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar is just around the corner, let's look at the early favorites to win it all."

 

1 hour ago, bmags said:

I mean, in some ways I'd almost enjoy it more. It, quite frankly to me, will not be as authentic an accomplishment as the marathon 163 game season and playoffs leading to a championship.

But, if by some amazing luck we'd win this year it would almost certainly be more memorable on the national conscience, if that's what you care about. Asterisk be damned.

There is no tv in production, no movies to go to, restaurants to go out in and likely in the foreseeable future. This will be a much more communal experience than a typical World Series, quite frankly. It would be an incredibly fun distraction to have the white sox be the main topic of conversation around the country, I just wouldn't care if it was considered "lesser", it will certainly stand out. It would be one that every sport fan remembers as trivia, and boy, the 2005 team is not that (nationally). Maybe as obscure trivia.

I think this is right.  I also think the asterisk will be smaller than most realize.  People don't even remember which championships (in baseball and other sports) came in shortened seasons.  Hell, the Hawks won a cup in a 48 game season and nobody discounts it one iota (I actually forgot about it completely).  I realize this is a much more exceptional circumstance, but if the season goes off without major disruption I think the champ will get due respect.

Now if something ELSE happens that doesn't allow the season to play out as planned - like one team in the World Series quarantining half its players during the series - that would of course change things independently.  But that hasn't happened yet.

legit but inferior

I think it depends on how closely the season matches preseason expectations. The playoff format is the same, so if the Dodgers beat the Yankees in a playoffs full of division favorites, I think most people will shrug and say it was legit. But if many of the favorites miss the playoffs because of bad luck and injuries and the White Sox beat the Reds while the league leader in BA has over .500, I think people are going to view the year with an asterisk unfortunately.

The problem, of course, is that even in a full season we have teams that do surprisingly well or poorly, but people will be more prepared to chalk up these surprises to COVID small sample size strangeness than to being wrong. 

This season and its championship will be the mother of all asterisks. Its not a bad thing. Everyone will remember 2020 because it was *so* unique, and whomever wins it will be etched in American conciousness for generations. I'll take it.

1 minute ago, Tony said:

I understand this is different for a number of reasons.....but the Blackhawks won the 2013 Stanley Cup in a season that saw 41.5% of the season wiped out due to the lockout, only playing a 48 game schedule. 

I don't know one person that has said the 2013 Stanley Cup is any different than the 2010 or 2015 Cups....

Exactly. It's even my favorite of the 3 teams. Assuming the season goes as planned (which is admittedly far from a given), I don't think this champion will be looked back on 20 years from now any differently than its surrounding champions