Rivera: 'You can't call yourself a champion' after 60-game season
New York Yankees legend Mariano Rivera has a certain expertise when it comes to winning championships. To the Hall of Fame closer, if Major League Baseball's season is shortened by too much, it will delegitimize the World Series.
"I don't think you can play a 60-game season and call yourself a champion," he said Friday on ESPN's Michael Kay Show. "Anything can happen in 60 games. I don't think it's enough ... If games don't start until June or July, I don't know what's going to happen."
MLB teams have played a 162-game schedule since 1961 with a couple exceptions that included the split 1981 campaign, and the abbreviated season relating to the 1994-95 strike. Both of those instances came as a result of strike-related work stoppages.
When the season was initially postponed, the league announced that the intention was to complete a full 162-game schedule. Currently, nothing can be finalized because there's no indication how long the delay will last.
Rivera, who won five championships with the Yankees, was on the show to urge young people to take COVID-19 seriously and to safely practice social distancing. He said he and his family are currently on full lockdown because of the outbreak.
"We need to do whatever we can to bring this message across," he said.
- h/t to SNY