Fenway Park. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
The MLB Players Association has sent a new proposal to the owners to resume play.
The MLB needs to figure out fast if it’s going to have a season or not.
With the other professional sports leagues in North America well on their way to returning this season, baseball is in its own ballpark. There’s been a ton of argument on both sides over money, safety and all things in between. Fortunately for baseball, the MLB Players Association sent its most recent proposal to the owners on May 31. Hopefully, we get baseball back here soon.
According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, “The MLBPA delivered a proposal to MLB on Sunday afternoon, a source familiar with it tells ESPN. It includes 114-game season that would end October 31, the right to opt out of the season for all players and potential deferral of salaries if 2020 the postseason were canceled.”
Evan Drellich of The Athletic noted two other key parts to the MLBPA’s proposal: A June 30 start date for a 114-game season that would end on Oct. 31 and two year of expanded postseason. The deferral of salaries are only if the postseason is canceled, which is viewed as the MLBPA extending the olive branch to the owners.
Are we seriously about to maybe get the MLB back in our lives?
With the proposed 114-game season, we’d be looking at only getting all those games in a 124-day span. There’s room for 10 scheduled off-days, assuming there are no scheduled double-headers, which of course, let’s be real, that’s totally in play this year given the circumstances.
As for the players choosing to opt out of the season, this would likely come in the later parts of the shortened season. If there is a second wave of the coronavirus, players can remove themselves from the equation. Those that are “high-risk” will receive compensation, per Passan, whereas others will only get service time in choosing to opt out.
If this proposal were to be approved by the owners, we would have to expect spring training to resume in a matter of days. The big leaguers will only have a month to get ready for the relaunch of the season and it takes pitchers at least a few weeks to get their arms ready for the rigorous season ahead. A November postseason will be weird, but at least baseball will be back.
The clock is ticking on baseball getting its season under way. Will the MLB step up to the plate?