It’s getting close.
The 2020 baseball season is hanging in the balance. The longer the owners and the players negotiate and send these proposals back and forth, the more time is being lost.
The original date was June 1 to have an agreement in place and have some concrete dates for the 2020 schedule and the playoffs.
The latest proposal from the MLBPA was received on Sunday and they want a 114 game schedule.
This proposal would have the season starting on June 30th and ending on October 31st.
There would also be an opt-out clause for any player that does not want to play out of concern for his health and safety.
We would also have expanded playoffs for the 2020 season and also 2021.
The owners responded to this proposal and they do not want a long season for a couple of reasons.
They are trying to slash their payroll coats and playing a 114 game schedule would cost them more money than the 50-60 game schedule that they are proposing.
The other reason is that the owners are trying to minimize their financial losses in a season that will be played with no fans in attendance.
The window to get an agreement done is closing.
The first proposal had a spring training target date of June 10th, but it doesn’t look like that will happen.
The owners have a target window of June 5th -June 9th for an agreement and to put a schedule together.
It looks as if it is going to get worse before it gets better.
Some owners are already willing to cancel the 2020 season and come back in the spring of 2021.
2012 is also the last year of the current collective bargaining agreement. The way these owners and players negotiate, it is looking more and more like there will be a work stoppage in the future.
For now, we all hope and wait.
Hoping that common sense will prevail and we can come to an agreement for us to have baseball in 2020.
If the season is wiped out baseball will never recover. The fans went through this in 1994 and baseball has still not fully recovered.
I would hate to see baseball become a second-tier sport. But that may be what the future holds if we lose another season of baseball in 2020
