As recently as Tuesday morning, Major League Baseball's players still had a sense of optimism that perhaps the financial proposal they would eventually receive from the league and its owners would make sense and cut a clear path back to ballparks this summer.
Yeah, so much for that.
Any hope the players harbored just one day before has likely been exchanged for some combination of despair and frustration, understanding that the two sides exchanging groundstrokes will be met by a collective eye roll from fans. The players also have questions and concerns, which we're likely to see posed over the coming days.
Here, then, are seven things worth asking after viewing the owners' first (official) financial proposal:
