For more than three months, Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Brent Suter has had to resort to delivering pitches into everything from the gloves of workout partners to couch cushions. That finally gets to change next week when the Brewers begin workouts in Milwaukee to prepare for their coronavirus-truncated 60-game 2020 season.
“A breath of fresh air,” said Suter on WTMJ’s Wisconsin’s Afternoon News Thursday. “Thank goodness. We can get back to baseball.”
Suter said he will drive from his hometown of Cincinnati to Milwaukee Sunday before workouts and coronavirus testing begins. His return comes after watching more than a month of owners and players debating over a deal to start the 2020 campaign, one that ended with owners unilaterally putting a 60-game season into place.
“As time went on from mid-May on, watching both sides with how much vitriol came, (I) had a pit in my stomach and an uneasy feeling,” said Suter. “I really want to apologize for everyone. Everyone had a part in it. We could have done better…have to ask for forgiveness.”
Suter recognizes now that the game he will be playing will have some unrecognizable elements, including few or possibly no fans in the stands.
“It’s going to be different, especially with huge stadiums. It’s going to be ‘echoey,’ weirdly peaceful,” he admits. “We are going to have to stay connected to each other…feed that energy off each other.”
The atmosphere may have as many fans as some Little League games. But the games themselves will have more importance than most regular season games, since there will only be 60 of them compared to 162 in a normal season.
“It’s a sprint rather than a marathon,” he said. “Every game means that much more. Every game could change the outlook of the season that much more. Everyone’s going to be all-hands on deck. It’s going to be like two months of September.”