The ramifications of no baseball season could be devasting to the New York Yankees and all of baseball, not to mention the disappointment of baseball fans everywhere. As you may know, the MLB/MLBPA negotiations have hit a snag and are dragging on.  The problem with not coming to an early agreement is that the time is ticking to be able to have a meaningful baseball season.
The season included in the latest MLB plan is to be about 82 games with an expanded postseason. With each passing day, the number of games will become less and less to the point that a credible season will no longer be able to be played. On Monday, Commissioner Manfred presented the plan to the owners of the 30 major league teams and was swiftly accepted. On Tuesday, the plan was presented to the Players Association, where it is still sitting.
It appears that the health and safety of the players and the proposal to reduce player pay with a revenue-sharing agreement has put the whole plan on hold. Several players have made their feelings known. Ex-Yankee Mark Teixiriera said that the players union should accept the plan for the good of the fans and all of baseball. Other players like Trevor Bauer and pitcher Blake Snell and let their distaste of the plan known.
If the sides cannot come together and compromise, the result will be no season at all. No season would have wide implications. Number one, the players would receive no pay, and they would lose what could have been a career season out of their career. A year of play that can never be replaced. For players that will become free agents at the end of the year, it will have a huge impact. The owners who will suffer millions upon millions of revenue will likely not be in the mood to put out large sums of monies on free agents. Greatly reducing the player’s value. Those reductions in value could affect their earning power for years to come.
The biggest impact will be with the fans. Right, when the country is down from the coronavirus, the fans need to experience the hope that sports bring to the table. For baseball itself, fans will be lost to what some see as a bunch of millionaires and billionaires fighting over money compared to the good of the game and its loyal fans. Sure die-hard fans may wait seasons for baseball to return; others will be put off by the player’s indifference to the fans and be lost forever. No season will have ramifications beyond this season and for many seasons to come.
Teixeira said it’s better to get paid pennies on the dollar and provide hope to the Americans who want baseball than it is to hold fast and lose the season altogether. YES Network’s Michael Kay gave a stern warning to the owners and players:
“I’m going to give everybody a little bit of a warning,†Kay said Tuesday on his ESPN radio show. “This week is going to be all negative. This week is going to be a situation where everything you hear is gonna be doom and gloom, there’s not going to be any baseball. Players aren’t going to budge, owners aren’t going to budge.
“There’s going to be into a public hissy match, which I think is so terrible for the sport. It’s a terrible look especially with people dying. Over 80,000 Americans are dead because of COVID-19. There are so many people that are unemployed. The last thing people that are struggling want to hear is billionaires fighting with millionaires, but it’s gonna be hard to control that.â€
Forget the fans and the disagreement with what is on the table at the moment, the economic effects of losing an entire MLB season will be felt by both the players and the owners for many years to come. The owners will have to cut payroll and increase ticket prices. They won’t have any money and, that will affect a player’s future contracts and the ability to negotiate player salaries for up and coming players that are low earners now. It’s the domino effect, no season will cause the first domino to fall, and that effect will continue for years.
The owners and players alike have to think of all the MLB ramifications and come to a compromise that can be swallowed by all parties so that a baseball season in 2020 can be a reality. Now is not the time to dig in your heals as the baseball clock keeps ticking.