MLBPA ponders late MLB pitch for 154 game season, sources say

The Major League Baseball Players Association is reflecting on an MLB proposal to delay the start of the 2021 season, and if the union does not provide a counter offer early next week, spring training should begin in mid-February as scheduled. , sources familiar with the situation told ESPN.

After months of dispersed dialogue, the parties are in a similar position to last year, when the coronavirus pandemic ended the season: disagreeing on the right path to take. The league’s proposal to postpone the start of spring training to the end of March and the start of the season to the end of April includes a schedule of 154 games that would pay players their full salaries for 162 games, according to sources.

The proposal concerns the MLBPA on several fronts, players and union sources told ESPN. With pitchers accelerating to start spring training around February 17, they are reluctant to stop and start again at the start of the proposed training on March 22 for a season that would begin on April 28, according to sources . In addition, players believe that the language in the proposal would give Commissioner Rob Manfred more power than he currently has to cancel games and, consequently, potentially cut players’ pay.

The league disagrees with this interpretation. Although Manfred was entitled according to the March 26 agreement reached by the sides after the start of the pandemic last year to cancel games or end the sport – something he considered in the midst of initial outbreaks – he never did after the season has started. The proposal, league sources said, is intended to protect the MLB from a worsening national situation, be it a vaccine-resistant variant of COVID-19 or an unexpected increase in cases.

The language, according to sources, gives Manfred the right to act if government restrictions prevent more than five teams from playing, if travel is restricted or if “competitive integrity is impaired” by seated players due to COVID-19 . Both sides, the sources said, would retain their rights to seek legal action. The disagreement over the breadth of language can be changed if the sides continue to negotiate.

MLB’s desire to delay the season, according to league sources, is based on the recommendation of health experts and the likelihood that this would allow the 2021 season to be carried out when COVID-19 cases fall – particularly in Arizona , which currently has the highest rates in the country and where half the league conducts spring training. Cases in Arizona and Florida have recently dropped, and health officials project that they will drop further by the proposal’s start date.

The potential for an agreement is possible, but the animus and distrust between the parties are so deep that sources doubt the likelihood of an agreement. Something as simple as the timing of the offer is a point of contention. League leaders were frustrated with the union when, in December, the union rejected the possibility of a delay, unless players received 162 games – something the league believes has adhered to its proposal. In messages sent by ESPN players’ representatives to the union on Sunday, they called the proposal near spring training an MLB “tactic”.

The last deal the sides made took months of coming and going about when the 2020 season should begin, and Manfred ended up implementing a 60-game season when they were unable to reach an agreement. Both sides accused the other of bad faith, and the debris of those negotiations remains palpable today, as baseball finds out what its 2021 season will be like.

The union’s eight-player executive board and the players’ representatives were briefed on the offer that was delivered on Friday, according to sources, and were skeptical about the way to a deal. They believe, the sources said, that because they were entitled to 162 games under the collective bargaining agreement, the terms of the offer – which would include expanding the postseason from 10 to 14 teams and adding the designated hitter to the National League – – no offer enough to delay the season.

In the absence of an agreement, there are two possibilities.

The first, and most likely, according to the sources, would be for teams and players to attend spring training venues on the dates of their reports and proceed as scheduled. The other is that Manfred invokes the national emergency clause of the collective bargaining agreement and suspends the uniform player contract – a possibility, but one that would ensure that the sides face each other in court, a prospect that is not attractive to both, according to sources.

MLB’s desire to postpone the season has been clear for months. Currently, there are almost twice as many daily cases of COVID-19 as on July 24, 2020, when the 60-game MLB season began. The possibility of an outbreak affecting individual teams remains acute. The Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals last year missed long periods because of the outbreaks and had to double-match their calendars to almost complete their game add-on.

It is not just the fear of an outbreak that fuels owners’ desire to delay the season. This would allow for a greater proliferation of the coronavirus vaccine and increase the likelihood that fans will go to the stadiums – and that local health officials would allow a greater number of fans at the stadiums. In discussions with the union, the league claimed it lost billions of dollars last season – a figure that has not been verified. With the regular season and stadium revenue nonexistent in 2020, revenue has unquestionably dropped.

MLB’s frustration with what it believed was a reasonable deal was palpable on Sunday. Discussions with the union were dispersed and, at this point, two players said it was probably too late to reach an agreement. While players have said that they recognize that a delay can be pragmatic, doing so when some players are already in spring training cities – and they all have a home they would need to cancel, probably costing thousands and even tens of thousands of dollars – it would be impractical.

“We are ready to play,” said one player. “The NFL is playing. The NBA is playing. The NHL is playing. The colleges are playing. Why shouldn’t we play?”

The NBA shortened its season by 10 games in early November – about three weeks before training camps opened and six weeks before its first games were played. The NHL has cut its season by about a third. Both came from shortened seasons that ended later than usual. The MLB season ended in time, after an expanded postseason, something the league would like to implement again.

The union expressed skepticism, fearing that the expansion of the playoffs would have a negative effect on the free agent market, because teams would be more likely to play for a total of victories in the 1980s rather than the 90s. , arguing that the expanded postseason – in this case, three wildcard series in each league – is better for the sport’s long-term health. In the proposal, the MLB guaranteed a pool of $ 80.9 million for players participating in the postseason.

Getting to that point, of course, is imperative, and the league believes that a delay makes it more likely to occur – and more likely for players to play games scheduled to receive their full salaries. In the absence of a deal, the expanded playoffs could stay off the table until 2022, and the universal DH, seven-entry doubleheaders and a runner starting on second base in extra entries would be in the air.