Ben Cherington, the GM of the Pittsburgh Pirates, is keen to stress the sense of urgency felt by all Major League Baseball teams ahead of the truncated 2020 season.

The reasons are manifold: instead of 162 regular season games there will be just 60, which gives greater weight to every result; the trade deadline has been pushed back four weeks until August 31; and 16 teams will make the playoffs compared to the traditional ten, which is more than 50% as Cherington points out.

"That definitely changes the calculus for teams in terms of expectations," he tells At Home With Leaders, "and it may change their decision-making."

Also on the conversational agenda with co-hosts Matthew Stone and Steve Gera were:

- Beginning the Pirates's shift to a player-centric culture upon his appointment in November [5:00];

- Using technology to assist knowledge transfer across the clubhouse and front office [14:00];

- Sense checking progress both on and off the field [19:20];

- How teams can reflect their city or town and the implications for performance [27:00].

Steve Gera: Twitter | LinkedIn

Matthew Stone: Twitter | LinkedIn

Further listening:

At Home With Leaders - Damien Comolli

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