Outside The Confines: We’re ready to fill in our calendars

With no official schedule of games yet in hand, and baseball fans wondering precisely when they might get an idea of who their team will be facing in the upcoming 60-game season (if it happens), there isn’t a lot of clarity available yet.

Emma Baccellieri has written a great piece for SI.com about how the MLB calendar is broken in this 2020 season. As for the rest of us, I think we’re just waiting to see if real baseball comes out of this new Summer Camp, or if the shutdown returns, this time to officially end the 2020 season.

As Roger Cormier from Baseball Prospectus rightly summarized, perhaps someone is dragging their feet a bit on getting the job done.

• As one eagle-eyed commenter reminded me in my Canada Day post, I missed the annual celebration of Bobby Bonilla Day. Dan Mullen looks into the history of the annual Mets payout.
• Rob Mains continues his series on positive 60-game stretches, this time focused on the pitchers. (Baseball Prospectus subscription required.)
• Brittany Ghiroli shares the story of the biggest All-Star Game no one ever saw. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• What was the first internet-based sports scandal? Andrew Marchand looks back at the history of an old Mets scandal.
• The Athletic has created the ultimate baseball food and drink. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• The Rochester Red Wings are looking at the positives this season.

• David Laurilla has the story of Ryan O’Rourke’s experience in the minor leagues.
• Robert Arthur explores why Black players seem to have a more difficult path to the major leagues. (Baseball Prospectus subscription required.)
• What does this new season mean for how baseball broadcasters do their job? Connor Grossman looks at the new reality for the people in the booth.
• Sarah R. Ingber, Davy Andrews, and Roger Cormier’s minor league feature series continues with the Lancaster JetHawks.
• With the minor league season officially cancelled, Evan Drellich asks “What will it look like when it comes back next year?” (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Ben Clemens asks if the shortened schedule will make depth starters much more valuable.
• The American Association are the only baseball league playing this Fourth of July, Noah Frank takes a look at the unaffiliated indie league. (Baseball Prospectus subscription required.)
• David Adler is here to remind you that even though we haven’t seen Shohei Ohtani in awhile, he’s still an ace.
• Collin McHugh shares some honest reaction to his first day at Summer Camp.

Wishing a happy Fourth of July to all of BCB’s American readers!

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Make it so.