There were times this spring when it seemed there really wouldn’t BE a 2020 sports year, as every sport was in danger of shutting down completely. Fortunately, we have returned to some semblance of normalcy, and champions have been and will continue to be crowned in the major sports (knock on wood).

But clearly the stories that would have been written, absent the pandemic, would have been different ones.

What did we miss? 

What WOULD have happened in a 2020 without COVID? 

Glad you asked….

BASEBALL

Juan Soto vs. Fernando Tatis, Jr. 

Baseball truly has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to young talent right now. There has rarely, if ever, been a collection of talent under the age of 25 as there is today in Major League Baseball. Cody Bellinger is 24 and in his first 2 seasons won a Rookie of the Year and an MVP. Ronald Acuna, Jr. is only 22 and is a five-tool talent that reminds fans of a young Ken Griffey, Jr. Gleyber Torres and Rafael Devers are both 23 and should be waging war in the famed Red Sox/Yankees rivalry for a long, long time.  But the best player under 25 right now is Juan Soto, who hit .282/.401/.548 across 150 games in 2019, with 34 home runs, 110 RBIs, and 110 runs scored. He ranked in the top 20 among qualified MLB hitters in ISO (.266), finished ninth in wOBA (.394), and ranked No. 11 in wRC+ (142). In the 2019 postseason, he merely led the Washington Nationals to their first ever World Series win, hitting .333/.438/.741 with three homers.  In 2020 his slash line was a ridiculous .351/.490/1.185.  What’s more impressive is that his at-bats remind you of a 15-year veteran.  He commands the strike-zone incredibly well, and oh, by the way, the dude is 21 years old. Also 21 is Fernando Tatis, Jr., who came into 2019 as the most hyped rookie in years, and he didn’t disappoint, finding immediate success at the plate with a .956 OPS and playing an excellent shortstop. In 2020 he got off to a great start and looked like the front-runner for MVP for much of the season, slashing .277/.355/571. These two should be in the top-5 of MVP voting for the rest of the 2020’s, and their two fan bases should consider themselves lucky to get to enjoy watching them get better and better.

Alternate 2020 Without COVID 

Tatis, Jr. lit the world on fire in April and May, hitting .320 with 15 early homers, before slumping a bit before the All-Star break as pitchers started to adjust. Of course one set of adjustments leads to another and Fernando went on a tear in August and September and ended up hitting .310 with 35 homers, and followed quite nicely in the steps of other shortstop uber-prospects of the last decade, like Carlos Correa, Francisco Lindor and Corey Seager. The Padres secured a wildcard and Padres fans will go into 2021 more excited than anytime since the late 1990’s.  Juan Soto, on the other hand, was nearly charged with committing a hate-crime against pitching in general, as he practically broke baseball in a way that hasn’t been seen since Barry Bonds turned the sport into a video game in the early 2000’s.  He started off slow in April but his keen batting eye (and lack of protection in the lineup with Anthony Rizzo off in LA with the Angels) allowed him to draw enough walks and keep his on-base percentage high enough to still be an offensive force. Then the weather got warmer and he went bananas, making a run at the triple crown, leading the league in hitting (.340), OBP (.465), slugging (.650) and OPS (1.130) and unanimously winning the MVP despite playing for a .500 Nationals team that didn’t make the playoffs.  By September nobody was pitching to him with guys on base. This guy’s ceiling is now officially Ted Williams.  OK, well maybe not Ted Williams.  Stan Musial?  Yeah, Stan Musial.  Good. 

TENNIS

One More Time – Federer vs Nadal vs Djokovic 

From 2004 through 2019, 10 grand slam titles have been won by men other than Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.  That means 54 titles (84%) were won by the big 3 during the last 16 years, and 2020 looked like it would be more of the same before COVID happened. Many tennis fans are tired of the never-ending parade of titles for these 3 all-time greats, and are ready for the next generation of stars to have their day in the sun. However, Father Time IS, as they say, undefeated, and before too long these three will have faded from center stage, and we may never see their like again.  Federer is 39 years old and at some point he HAS to start showing his age. Nadal is 34 and his body has taken an absolute pounding from the style of tennis he plays.  Djokovic is 33 and is best positioned for continued sustained success, but he has had motivation issues over the years and who knows how long he will be willing to work as hard as he does to stay on top.  All of that means that we should enjoy these last years of these 3 battling for the top prizes of the sport, especially since their battles are so often 5 set thrillers (by contrast, Venus and Serena Williams, despite both being all-time greats, produced some of the most boring Grand Slam finals in tennis history when they faced each other).

Alternate 2020 Without COVID 

Rafael Nadal ripped through the spring clay court season (who could have seen THAT coming), culminating in yet another French Open title, as he shredded Djokovic in straight sets in the Final.  Federer took much of the spring off as he prepared for one last stand at Wimbledon, and it paid off, as he played some of his best tennis ever, making it into the semi-finals without dropping a set. He struggled with Dens Shapovalov in the semis before meeting Djoker in what seemed like an inevitable final. These two staged a battle for the ages in 2019 (Novak won a 5^th set tiebreaker) and they didn’t disappoint this year either.  This time Federer was the last man standing after another 5-set classic. Djokovic refused to leave 2020 empty handed though, and he dominated the US Open with his relentless baseline game, beating Federer in the semis and outlasting Nadal in the Finals for his 18^th Grand Slam title. Federer surprised many by announcing his retirement after the US Open. 

BASKETBALL

LeBron vs. Kawhi vs. Greek Freak 

On March 11, 2020, the NBA shut down it’s season due to the pandemic.  At that point, the LA Clippers were 44-20, the LA Lakers were 49-14, and the Milwaukee Bucks were 53-12. Toronto, the defending champs, actually had a slightly better record than the Clippers, but they were generally considered a minor threat to defend their title, since their best player, Kawhi Leonard, had left in the offseason for LA. The home stretch of the season was set up to be a fantastic prelude to the postseason, as these three teams had distanced themselves from the pack, largely on the backs of their respective mega-stars, Kawhi Leonard, LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo (or, as he shall be referred to herein for the rest of this paragraph, simply “Giannis”).  We have seen periods in the NBA where one transcendent star has dominated the sport (Michael Jordan) and plenty of times when two have reigned supreme (Larry Bird/Magic Johnson; Shaquille O’Neal/Kobe Bryant), but this threesome, at or near the peak of their powers (LeBron IS 35 after all), leading teams with serious championship aspirations, would have been super fun to see.  

Alternate 2020 Without COVID 

All 3 teams win 8 of their last 10 regular season games and feel the title is theirs for the taking.  Milwaukee, as expected, has the easier time getting to the Finals, only losing one game to the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Semifinals and sweeping the Celtics in the EC Finals.  The Lakers and Clippers are both tested getting to the Western Conference Finals, but the Lakers squeeze by Portland and the Clippers outlast Denver in 7 games, setting up a Staples Center War in the WC Finals. The Clippers run out to a 3-1 lead but LeBron and Anthony Davis will not be denied and storm back to take the series in 7 games.  Unfortunately for Los Angeles, the stress of that series takes its toll, and the well-rested Bucks blitz the Lakers in 6 games, winning Milwaukee’s first NBA championship since 1974.