On Sunday, the Major League Baseball Players Association presented the league with counter-proposal on how to resume the 2020 season. Details of the proposal included a 114-game schedule lasting from June 30-October 31, two years of expanded playoffs, $100-million of total deferred money, and an opt-out clause for any players that don’t want to play.
You can read about the union’s proposal here.
However, it would appear that both sides have yet to find a common cause. Word has come out that the league is open to a much shorter campaign — perhaps one with as few as 50 to 60 games — as a “last resort” should an agreement not come to pass.
Mark Polishuk (MLB Trade Rumors) writes that the MLB commissioner has the right to implement a schedule that’s as long or short as he wants based on the agreement the owners and players made back in March.
Whether this plan will appeal to the players remains to be seen, as they wouldn’t come close to their normal salaries in such an abbreviated season. However, as Jon Heyman of MLB Network notes, commissioner Rob Manfred has the right to implement a schedule that’s as long or short as he wants based on the agreement the owners and players made back in March. As of now, Manfred and the league are still hoping to reach some sort of compromise that works out for both sides, Heyman suggests, but Passan adds that MLB is prepared to go with a schedule length of its choosing if it’s unable to find common ground with the players.
— Mark Polishuk
Season length aside — a 50-to-60-game schedule obviously would not be ideal — it should be noted that the league appears to be willing to give players their prorated salaries without further reductions in pay. This, after MLB presented its latest economic proposal last week — a sliding scale model where the highest-paid players would take a significantly larger cut in pay than those earning league minimum — that didn’t go over well with players. It bears repeating: players already agreed to take lower salaries in the form of prorated salaries and weren’t open to accepting even less money.
The hope remains that owners will meet in the middle on schedule length — somewhere between 82 and 114 games — in the coming weeks and get a 2020 season underway.