MLB owners and players are a sad and self-destructive lot. “It’s all about the fans” – bullcrap. Living without baseball is not as hard as they might think.
MLB owners and players seem to think they have us by the nuts.
That, as devoted fans of baseball, we’ll always be there to help generate the $640,000 revenue owners claim they are losing for each game lost or later scheduled with no fans in attendance.
MLB owners and players exchange letters like teenagers in a high school Biology class, instead of sitting down face to face to hammer this thing out. In war, it’s called a stalemate, and the best either side can hope for is “peace with honor”.
MLB Owners And Players – The Issues
The facts of the case are simple and direct.
MLB owners want as few games as possible with a regular-season to end as soon as possible so as not to jeopardize the all-important and highly profitable television ratings for the postseason.
Owners fear a return and uptick in COVID-19 cases as Dr. Fauci and others are predicting for the fall, causing a shutdown during the playoffs.
MLB players in the name of the MLBPA want the opposite – more games (more money). More games mean a more extended regular season with the World Series played as late as Thanksgiving, with possible even stronger TV ratings.
We’ve heard it all, and many times warmed over. It’s boring.
President Trump: More Than Words Is Needed
Three weeks ago, President Trump told Mike Tirico of Sports Illustrated, “We want to get sports back; we miss sports. We need sports in terms of the psyche of our country”.
But if the president was sincere in his remarks, and if he has been briefed on the current MLB negotiations debacle, isn’t it sensible to hope he would intervene by appointing a mediator to settle the dispute?
Presidents can exercise that power, and they have many times before in instances where an “essential” business or service people need is threatened. Is baseball essential?
The answer doesn’t matter if a president thinks it is. But Trump acting is another question far removed from the rhetoric/
MLB owners and players, conveniently, have not declared an official work stoppage or, for lack of a better word, strike.
But as each day goes ticking by, the window to have anything resembling a legitimate 2020 major league season is slowly but surely dissipating.
MLB Owners And Players – If They Can Do It…
MLB owners and players stand in stark contrast to the NFL and NBA, both of whom are working their way through the litany of hurdles necessary to get their season underway.
Each has made significant adjustments in place of the restrictions required by the CDC, even to the point where the NBA is resuming their season with only 22 of their 30 teams. For the other eight, their season is over.
The age-old adage preaches where there’s a will there is a way.
But the sad truth emerging from the MLB owners and players is there is no will, and therefore we might as well forget about there being a way.
Media Sees Thru MLB Owners And Players Non-Story
Reporters and blog writers like myself have followed the non-story faithfully, hoping that either or both sides will reach a consensus when they come to their senses.
And for much of the media, it has been a chore filling ink with the copy their editors still demand.
But sooner or later, and it’s only a matter of time, these magazines, websites like The Athletic and ESPN, together with their editors and sportswriters, of necessity, will shift their focus to games being played (live) on the field.
And Major League Baseball (owners and players) will suffer the consequences of not being one of those sports.
I won’t raise a white flag of surrender on that day – but I will shout loud and clear to both MLB owners and players – Shame On You – for letting this happen.
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.
