Yankees' legend does not believe shortened season is long enough for a real championship

Mariano Rivera has earned the right to speak his mind when it comes to the postseason, winning five World Series rings and a World Series MVP. Now with the 2020 season on pause due to COVID-19, Rivera questions whether or not a shortened season championship would mean the same as one in a 162 game season.

The MLB all-time saves leader Rivera was on the Micheal Kay show Friday and when asked what he thought about the MLB's potential shortened season, he held nothing back. “I don't think you can play a 60-game season and you call yourself a champion."

Rivera also spoke candidly about urging people to take the CDC's recommendations seriously when it comes to isolating and social distancing. “Anything can happen in 60 games. I don't think it's enough. People don't play on all cylinders, the whole teams are different. I don't know. It's a great question, because I don't know what's going to happen if the season is starting in June or July.”

It has been nine days since the MLB shut its doors on spring training, postponing the start of the regular season until mid-May at the earliest. Of course when the season starts back up again, a second spring training will need to be restarted. Which means that Opening Day could get pushed back to June or even later, simply depending on how the virus spreads in the next few weeks.

The 50-year-old former All-star closer spoke his concerns about the pitchers being able to get ready for a shortened season following the spring training delay: “The hitters will be OK. You can hit in a room [by] yourself and start hitting on a tee in a cage." “But pitchers will need the space. If this keeps happening like this, the pitchers are going to have a lot of problems with this.”

The MLB did announce that the intention was to complete a full 162-game season. However, nothing can be finalized because right now there is no indication on how long the delay is going to last.

Source: New York Post

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