On Michael Kopech's decision to opt out of the 2020 season

White Sox pitcher Michael Kopech and wife Vanessa Morgan

The Athletic's James Fegan wrote an article Monday addressing some of the issues that reportedly caused White Sox pitcher Michael Kopech to opt out of the 2020 season.

Fegan's report says, "Sources close to Kopech indicate he was driven by a litany of concerns, not limited to a short ramp-up to action, an uncertain role, uncertainty over the fate of the 2020 season, caution in determining how and when to best return to action from Tommy John surgery, and despite not being medically deemed high-risk himself, concern over how playing amid the pandemic could threaten the health of those close to him."

Certainly believable.

But Daryl Van Schouwen's reporting in the Chicago Sun-Times over the weekend was believable, too. Van Schouwen had quotes from pitching coach Don Cooper, who expressed concerns about Kopech's mental health. The 24-year-old right-hander has spoken candidly on many occasions about his battles with anxiety and depression -- and Kopech is to be commended for that.

The truth is, we as fans have absolutely no idea what led Kopech to make this decision, and it's fair to say he does not owe us an explanation. I've read online comments from fans both praising and condemning Kopech's choice.

I will do neither of those two things. How can I possibly comment intelligently about a decision I know nothing about? I've said all along that whether players opt in or opt out of the 2020 season, those choices need to be respected by all. These are grown-ups making grown-up decisions at a very difficult time in all of our lives. Everyone has the right to determine what is best for them.

That being said, from a purely baseball perspective, while the Sox can look forward to Kopech's return for the 2021 season, I don't think they can afford to count on him to hold down a starting rotation spot.

The kid only pitched in four MLB games before undergoing surgery in 2018, and by the time he next steps on the mound in April, it will have been more than two years since he threw a meaningful pitch in a game situation.

My mindset on Kopech for 2021 is this: Whatever he gives the Sox is a bonus. He needs to be the sixth or maybe the seventh starter going into the season. It's not his fault, but the fact of the matter is circumstances have his career stuck in neutral at this point in time.

It would be folly to assume he's destined for stardom, despite his tremendous potential.

My trip to the Field of Dreams movie site

Has there ever been a better year than 2020 to take a vacation to the middle of nowhere? That's what I decided to do last week. I went to Dyersville, Iowa, to visit the Field of Dreams movie site.

The White Sox are scheduled to play the St. Louis Cardinals on Aug. 13 at the site, on a field that is under construction near the field where the movie was filmed.

The photo above was taken from inside the farmhouse. The Field of Dreams is in the foreground, but if you look out past the corn in left field, you can see the light towers for the field that is being built for Major League Baseball. In case you were wondering, the Field of Dreams is not regulation size, so that is why the Sox and Cardinals cannot play there.

The Field of Dreams is about a three-hour drive from my home in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. It's not an all-day kind of thing by any stretch -- we spent about two hours there. There's a guided tour of the farmhouse, which takes about 45 minutes. That's the one thing that costs money; it's $20 per adult.

However, access to the field is free. You can play catch, run the bases, take pictures, throw your kid batting practice, whatever you want. Just be forewarned -- there is no running water on the farm, so don't go if you're squeamish about using a portable toilet in this time of COVID-19.

There's also a gift shop with "Baseballism" T-shirts, at which I overpaid for two shirts that I didn't really need.

The tour is a good thing to do if you're a fan of the movie. There's some baseball memorabilia in the house, which is cool, but our tour guide focused on describing scenes from the movie that were shot in certain places in the house. She also offered some anecdotes on behind-the-scenes things that happened during filming. In case you were wondering, Dubuque, Iowa, and Galena, Ill., are featured in the movie, because there isn't much to Dyersville.

In fact, I never saw the town of Dyersville on my drive to the site. I was in the middle of cornfields, wondering if I was going the right direction, when suddenly the field and farmhouse appeared in my line of sight.

Not that anyone is interested, but here's some other photos I took during my visit:

I took this picture of the farmhouse while standing on the ballfield.

There's me sitting at the entrance. Yes, I am a real person, not a bot.

I did not know that there was "Team of Dreams" celebrity game that is played at the Field of Dreams. This picture in the farmhouse shows some of the players who have appeared through the years: Jim Rice, Reggie Jackson, Rickey Henderson, Pete Rose, Paul Molitor, Wade Boggs, Ozzie Smith, Rod Carew, Frank Thomas, Carlton Fisk, Jim Palmer, Bruce Sutter, Dwight Gooden and Johnny Bench. How's that for a lineup?

Yep, there's me on the pitcher's mound.

There's a curio cabinet on the first floor of the farmhouse that has some cool stuff, such as ...

... a bobblehead of Roger Bossard (second from left)! Other bobbleheads in this picture include Kirby Puckett, 1919 Cincinnati Reds manager Pat Moran and Robin Yount.

And there's me again. More shameless self-promotion.

Apparently, former commissioner Bud Selig is a big supporter of the Field of Dreams. I couldn't stand Selig as a commissioner, but at least he is a baseball man. His tenure looks like the "good ole days" when compared to current commissioner Rob Manfred.

And here's a picture of the actors who portrayed the 1919 White Sox walking out of the corn.

It's too bad I didn't get to the Field of Dreams a couple of hours earlier than I did. The day I was there, a TV crew was there to interview fans about the upcoming game between the Sox and the Cardinals. The reporters apparently found some St. Louis fans to talk with, but they were saddened that no Sox fans were around at the time they were working on the story. If I had showed up then, I probably would have been interviewed for the local news.

Oh well. If you're a baseball fan, or a fan of the movie "Field of Dreams," this place in Iowa is a nice little day trip. I recommend it, especially if you're passing through northeast Iowa for whatever reason.

I'll be on vacation July 6-10

Taking a little break. Blogging will resume Monday, July 13, after my vacation is over.

Happy Fourth of July from The Baseball Kid

Remembering 1981: If you think 2020 will be an illegitimate season ...

Dodgers third baseman Ron Cey in 1981

The 1981 Cincinnati Reds had the best record in the National League. They had a .611 winning percentage. They did not make the playoffs.

As a matter of fact, the two best teams in the NL did not make the playoffs in 1981. That's how stupid that season was.

I can barely remember that summer. I was only 5 years old. Some people reading this post may not have been born yet, so let me explain.

There was a strike in the middle of the season that lasted two months. Teams stopped playing after the games of June 11, and play did not resume until Aug. 10.

You would think they would have just picked up where they left off, with the standings as they were on June 11, right?

Well, you would be wrong. Commissioner Bowie Kuhn decided that the teams in first place on June 11 would be declared champions of the first half. Each of those four division leaders -- the New York Yankees, the Oakland Athletics, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Los Angeles Dodgers were awarded playoff berths.

Teams reset at 0-0 for the "second half" of the season on Aug. 10, and the teams that won the second half also were awarded playoff berths. Those clubs turned out to be the Milwaukee Brewers, the Kansas City Royals, the Montreal Expos and the Houston Astros.

Here's the problem with that. If you added up the standings for the ENTIRE season, here's how the standings would have looked in the NL East and NL West, respectively:

NL East
1. St. Louis 59-43
2. Montreal 60-48
3. Philadelphia 59-48

NL West
1. Cincinnati 66-42
2. Los Angeles 63-47
3. Houston 61-49

In a strange quirk, both St. Louis and Cincinnati finished second in BOTH the first half and the second half. So, even though those two clubs were the top teams in their divisions for the entire year, neither made the playoffs.

The two Division Series in the National League both featured, in effect, a second-place team against a third-place team. The Dodgers beat the Astros. The Expos beat the Phillies. In the National League Championship Series, the Dodgers beat the Expos, and they went on to beat the Yankees in the World Series.

So, a team that normally wouldn't have made the playoffs under the standard format at the time won the World Series. Hmm.

Over in the American League, the Yankees won the East Division in the first half with a 34-22 record. But in the second half, New York finished SIXTH out of seven teams with a 25-26 record.

Here's how the AL East would have stacked up if you had combined records for the entire season:

1. Milwaukee 62-47
2. Baltimore 59-46
3. Detroit 60-49
4. New York 59-48

But the Yankees got hot in the playoffs. They beat the Brewers in five in the ALDS and swept Oakland in the ALCS to get to the World Series.

So, in effect, you had the fourth-place team in the AL East playing the second-place team in the NL West in the World Series.

The Dodgers won it. Now, ask yourself this: Do you ever hear anyone say there should be an asterisk next to that championship?

No? Me neither.

You see, the machinations of the 1981 season have been forgotten through time. All that matters is that there was a World Series, and somebody won it.

Something to keep in mind as we embark on this strangest of seasons here in 2020, with only 60 games to determine the 10 playoff teams.

Assuming the coronavirus doesn't shut down the season, someone will win a championship under these rules. And decades from now, how it was won will be mostly forgotten, but flags fly forever.

As expected, the minor league season is canceled

This is no surprise, but it's still sad. The minor league baseball season was canceled Tuesday.

"These are unprecedented times for our country and our organization as this is the first time in our history that we've had a summer without Minor League Baseball played," MiLB president Pat O'Conner said in a statement. "While this is a sad day for many, this announcement removes the uncertainty surrounding the 2020 season and allows our teams to begin planning for an exciting 2021 season of affordable family entertainment."

Most of the top prospects will be part of the 60-man player pools for each major league team. It's tough to see the minor leagues flounder in a year like this -- their revenues are based on attendance, and with no games, some teams will not survive.

I'm thinking four of the five White Sox minor league affiliates will be OK. Charlotte, Birmingham, Winston-Salem and Kannapolis will hang on. Great Falls might be a goner, however.

Andy Masur joins White Sox radio booth; latest on Field of Dreams game

A couple of White Sox notes from Tuesday:

First, Andy Masur will be the radio play-by-play voice of the Sox on WGN 720-AM this season. Masur will replace the late Ed Farmer and work with longtime analyst Darrin Jackson.

Farmer, who battled kidney disease throughout his life, died of an undisclosed illness April 1 at age 70.

Masur has filled in for Farmer on numerous occasions, including during some spring training games in March. Masur grew up in the Chicago area and has spent the past two seasons as a pregame host on Sox games.

The veteran broadcaster also worked in the Cubs' radio booth as an occasional fill-in for Pat Hughes when the North Siders were on WGN radio. He also spent eight years in San Diego as part of the Padres' radio broadcast team.

Reports indicate Masur has been given no guarantees past 2020, and replacing Farmer will be no easy task.

“Ed was a legend in his own right, and it was a well-deserved legendary status,” Masur told MLB.com on Tuesday. “The guy bled White Sox baseball. He pitched for them. He got a chance to grow up watching them and got a chance to be around them when they won a World Series. He had been around them as they’ve been rebuilding to what they hope to be here in the next couple of years.

“From my perspective, I go in and just kind of do what I do and hope that I make Ed proud and hope I make D.J. proud. I hope I give White Sox fans what they are looking for, as far as a game broadcast with information and making sure you know where the ball is and what the inning is and what the score is.”

Sox might play NL Central opponent in Iowa

Remember when the Sox were supposed to play the New York Yankees in the Field of Dreams game in Dyersville, Iowa, on Aug. 13?

Well, the Sox definitely won't be playing the Yankees. With this shortened season and a geographically based schedule, there will be no games against New York -- just games against clubs from the AL Central and NL Central.

The latest reporting says that Field of Dreams game could go on, but the opponent will be a National League team -- either the Cardinals, the Cubs or the Brewers.

Let me cast my vote: Bring on the Cardinals!

I'm pretty sure the eyes of Chicago will be on the six games between the Sox and the Cubs, no matter where they are played. Those games do not need an unusual venue to get extra attention.

So why not play St. Louis instead? Let's add a little juice -- and a national TV audience -- to a matchup between the Sox and Cardinals.