Some items:
*There will be no minor-league season in 2020. It's the first time since 1901 that minor-league baseball will not be played in a calendar year. This is not surprising in the least, but it still sucks. You can feel Manfred's sweaty, greasy hands all over this because, when minor-league baseball returns, there will undoubtedly be fewer teams in existence. MLB is in the process of taking advantage of a global pandemic to force its will on the minors. Rob Manfred is the worst.
*Here's McTaggart's Inbox. It's a good one, with an interesting note about Dusty/Hinch.
*Should the MLB season actually happen, the Astros will operate the roof as they always have.
*Corpus' Whataburger Field will serve as a secondary location for the Astros' taxi squad.
*Czech out this crazy story from The Athletic on Jared Hughes' search for answers to his sinker.
*The Astros have the 3rd-best odds to win the 2020 World Series, at +700.
*ESPN: Inside the rise of MLB's Ivy League culture.
*Koshien: The baseball documentary that captures a nationwide passion.
*Esquire: Inside pop music's most famous all-nighter.
*1843 Mag: In the summer of 2018, a 54-year old Indonesian woman was discovered, intact and fully clothed, inside a 23ft python occupying her vegetable garden.
It's going to get worse before it gets better.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
