Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred is expected to meet with the media tomorrow to discuss the state of affairs for the negotiations between the league and the Players’ Association for a new CBA. Everyone around the league is fearing the worst.
So what can we expect from it? What will he say? Will he miraculously resign and save baseball as a result? Will he make the announcement that Spring Training is going to be pushed back? Will he do the unthinkable and say that the season is cancelled?
Honestly at this point, anything is possible. With a guy like Manfred, you just never know what he’s going to do next.
As we all know, tensions are high. These two sides hate each other and are still very far apart on the core economic issues. Each bargaining session has been heated. The game is not in a good state currently. The league continues to lose money and baseball is well behind all other sports in terms of relevance.
Owners initiated the lockout on December 2, claiming that a lockout was the best option to speed up negotiations. But it’s done quite the opposite. The two sides didn’t meet again until January. After some progress and a few concessions by the players, the owners were set to make another proposal. Instead, they walked it back and chose to request assistance from a federal mediator, which didn’t ring well with the players.
And now we’re here. Back at a standstill, with no progress in sight. The expectation is that Manfred’s announcement will be that Spring Training is going to be pushed back. At this point, it shouldn’t be a surprise to anybody. Most sources familiar with the situation have been saying that Spring Training is in jeopardy for a while now, but with the way things have been going, that’s really nothing we don’t already know.
Nobody has said that we’re in danger of having to push Opening Day back just yet, but I think we’re already to that point. The way things are now, nobody should be surprised if baseball loses a significant portion of the 2022 season. There’s a good chance this could last until some point in April or even May, which would leave time for about 100-110 ballgames.
Baseball continues to shoot itself in the foot, and tomorrow’s announcement will likely just be more evidence of that.
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