MLB’s shutdown amid the coronavirus pandemic has led to months of contentious negotiating between the owners and the MLBPA. Between the numerous proposals (and counter proposals), attempts from both sides to control narratives through social media and haggling over games played, the negotiations have seemingly had everything except, well, progress.
And while Monday appeared to provide a turning point, MLB fans — who have agonized over these labor disputes — should get ready for an uglier scene in the future.
The MLBPA formally rejected MLB’s 60-game restart proposal on Monday, which set up commissioner Rob Manfred to unilaterally implement a season between 50 and 60 games. But don’t get too excited about baseball’s probable return because a Manfred-implemented season is just a temporary reprieve from a labor dispute that will almost certainly alienate more fans and hurt the sport’s future.
ESPN’s Buster Olney laid out what’s ahead for the MLB-MLBPA relationship.
Had the MLBPA accepted the owners’ proposal, the union would have forfeited the ability to file a grievance against the league. Fair or not, that’s leverage the MLBPA shouldn’t give up.
The MLBPA contends that owners have negotiated in bad faith all in an effort to save money and play the least amount of games. And the owners — who definitely *did* want to minimize the games played, or cancel the season completely — would have preferred to avoid a costly grievance that would only lead to a more heated negotiating period ahead of the CBA’s expiration on Dec. 31, 2021.
But that’s exactly where MLB and the MLBPA are heading. As unbearable as it was to hear both sides argue about money and games during a global pandemic, the game’s future looks that much worse. It’ll be more lawyers, more strongly worded statements … and less baseball.
And, sadly, that’s the last thing baseball can afford right now.
