Zaidi: Shortened season could be 'equalizer' for Giants

The San Francisco Giants could find themselves in a good spot when the 2020 MLB season gets underway, at least according to their president of baseball operations.

"It's going to be a little bit of a crapshoot when you talk about a shorter season," Farhan Zaidi said Thursday, according to KNBR's Mark W. Sanchez. He continued: "A shorter season would be an equalizer, there's no doubt about that."

The Giants were not expected to compete with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the NL West title in 2020. The club wasn't even considered to be in the running for a wild-card spot, with PECOTA projecting San Francisco to finish last in the division with a 68-94 record.

But if MLB implements a shortened and compressed campaign, the season will likely feature multiple doubleheaders that result in fatigue for the game's superstars. Zaidi believes the Giants could benefit from such a scenario, especially if they're able to hit the ground running.

"I also think in some senses it's going to make it really important that hopefully when we get all back together and start ramping up, you have a really good ramp-up period and you start the season really sharp," Zaidi said. He added: "Every game is going to matter so much more. In a 162-game season, you have a bad April, you think there's plenty of season left. It's going to be harder to make that point."