Final Image and a Few Final 2020 Thoughts

Only hours remain in 2020, a year like no other.

A global pandemic crushed so many aspects of life that we'd taken for granted. Suddenly, the expression of community was altered -- it became unsafe to gather, as personal contact was replaced by zoom meetings.

Sports were placed on hold; when they were permitted to remove, there were no crowds, and for some games, no broadcasters on site.

Baseball was left with a 60-game season and several rule changes for a year-long trial. Some worked intriguing well, such as seven-inning games in doubleheaders; others, such as starting extra innings with a runner on 2nd base, left many of us cold. The playoffs were expanded, and, perhaps most symbolic of the season, the Miami Marlins went from being sidelined by a virus outbreak to an unlikely march into the playoffs.

Yet, in the end, the World Series gave us the two best teams going head-to-head, the Dodgers and the Rays. Julio Urias was on the mound for the final out, as L.A. came home with Southern California's first championship in 32 years.  

That headed right into... very little. No traditional winter meetings and, outside of the Padres taking advantage of salary dumps in Chicago and Tampa Bay, very little hot stove activity. Maybe even that ugly "C" word rearing its head. All of that amidst an uncertainty over how, even with the gradual vaccination of most Americans, baseball camps can reopen and give us a sense of normalcy next winter.

So much pain across America, all over the world. So many lives lost, business closed, habits altered, trust shaken.

So many sad goodbyes across baseball, as we lost seven Hall of Fame players: Lou Brock, Whitey Ford, Bob Gibson, Al Kaline, Joe Morgan, Tom Seaver and Phil Niekro, all huge figures over the past 60 years.

So much we wish had gone differently. 

So goodbye and good riddance to 2020, a year almost everyone will be delighted to put in a collective rear-view mirror.