Chances of Major League Baseball playing in 2020 are extremely slim

Baseball (Jay Schyler Raadt, Wikimedia Commons)

Until earlier this week, there was a still a strong chance that there would be sort of Major League Baseball in 2020. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred even guaranteed a season during the MLB Draft last week.

However, the tone from Major League Baseball and its owners have significantly changed in the last couple of days. On Monday, Manfred expressed less optimism of a season to say the least. He stated he was no longer certain there would be a season. There is growing concern according to R.J. Anderson of CBS Sports, if a season was announced to begin, then the Major League Baseball Players’ Association could seek financial damages due to the fact the owners negotiated in bad faith and were not trying to play the maximum number of regular season games.

Historically, I have actually supported the owners many times in labour negotiations when it comes to sports. I have understood why the National Hockey League owners’ had a season-long lockout back in 2005 for example. The bottom line is that the NHL needed to fix its entire system, and were able to put measures in place that has generally improved their overall game for the long term.

However, the squabbling that has been going on between the owners and players since March has not been good for Major League Baseball at all. The sides cannot come to an agreement on the percentage of income athletes will receive for the games they do play.

When Manfred was guaranteeing a season in 2020 last week to ESPN, the Major League Baseball Players Association seemed to have reason to believe that negotiations were improving. Or, if Manfred was to impose a season of approximately 50 games, then players would receive 100% of the prorated salaries from those 50 games.

On Saturday, Tony Clark, the Major League Baseball Players Association Executive Director asked Major League Baseball to impose a “return to work” order. Now Major League Baseball owners seem to be very concerned of the consequences that might happen if there is a season. There is growing distrust between the sides and there are concerns what the players might do next from a legal perspective once a schedule has been set.

As of Tuesday, six unnamed Major League Baseball owners do not want there to be a season according to Anderson. If Major League Baseball does not happen this season, you cannot completely blame coronavirus, but the poor relationship between the MLB and the MLBPA as the major reason. Unfortunately, the absence of a 2020 season will define Manfred’s legacy, and be horrible for the game as a whole.