Jul 21, 2019; Cooperstown, NY, USA; Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred reads the inscription on the plaque of Hall of Fame Inductee Mike Mussina (not pictured) with National baseball hall of fame chairman of the board Jane Forbes Clark looking on during the 2019 National Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Clark Sports Center. Mandatory Credit: Gregory J. Fisher-USA TODAY Sports
ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported on SportsCenter that the MLB owners are shifting in the direction of wanting a 50 to 60 game schedule for 2020. With this schedule, the players would get the prorated salaries like agreed upon in March. The owners believe they have the discretion on setting schedule length.
As Passan said, this is no set deal, but just reports. He believes that both the players and owners are nearing closer to a deal, but players may want a longer schedule. The players proposed a 114 game schedule on Sunday that the owners basically vetoed.
If I’m a player, I try to get the season up to as close as 80 games as possible with the idea of more revenue-generating events. Those events could include a home run derby and an all-star game after the season if the coronavirus remains under control.
It appears as if the owners are okay with players possibly opting out this season if they don’t want to play, and are on board with a lengthened postseason. The season would return in July if this is passed, and the postseason would be just about over by the end of September.
Another reason why owners might want it this way is to make sure they don’t interfere with other sports too much so they can get as many viewers as possible down the stretch and into the postseason. Since there will likely not be any fans at any games in 2020, most revenue will be generated through TV deals.
We’ll see what develops from this likely proposal, and it could be the closest step to getting baseball back on the field in 2020.
This post was published on 2020-06-01 17:29
