The return of Major League Baseball is just around the corner as players are set to report for Spring Training 2.0 on July 1, although the road to get to this point has been anything but smooth.
MLB and the Players Association were at odds on the format and financials for a 2020 regular season, which wasn’t exactly the best of circumstances considering the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continues to affect millions of people across the world.
Ultimately, the two sides were not able to come to an agreement as players maintained they wanted full prorated salaries, which was part of the March 26 agreement. The owners didn’t budge, so MLB commissioner Rob Manfred was forced to impose a 60-game season.
Because the players do not feel the owners negotiated in good faith, it is likely that they file a grievance against the league, meaning the debacle could be far from over. Baseball will take place in 2020 though and Opening Day is less than a month away.
In an interview with Ronald Blum of the Associated Press, Manfred admitted that neither side handled the negotiations well and they need to change that for the fans’ sake moving forward:
“We need to get back on the field, and we need to in a less-charged environment start to have conversations about how we — and the we in that sentence is the commissioner’s office, my staff, the clubs and the MLBPA and the players — can be better going forward,” he said Wednesday during an interview with The Associated Press. “We owe it to our fans to be better than we’ve been the last three months.”
Manfred’s reputation has taken a huge hit in recent months, with MLB agent Scott Boras even going as far as to call him a ‘pancake commissioner.’
In addition to the grievance, the current collective bargaining agreement is up after the 2021 season so there are more negotiations and a possible lockout on the way.
While the two sides clearly do not like each other for the moment, it is good to see that Manfred is prioritizing putting those differences aside for the 2020 season. For MLB to have a successful year, everyone must be on the same page, especially in regard to health and safety with coronavirus still very prevalent in the United States.
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