Major League Baseball Considering An Even Shorter Season

Major League Baseball can't be serious, can they? In response to the players request for a 114 game season and full prorated salaries, baseball is considering making the season even shorter at 50 games?  Really?

How is this an improvement? Initially baseball proposed an 82-game schedule with severe cuts to players salaries, a plan the players didn't go for. The players responded on Sunday with their requests for a longer season that would stretch deep into the fall that would cover 70 percent of their original salaries.

The owners? Well, they countered with a 50 game season with full prorated salaries. But under such an plan the players would only earn about 31 percent of their salaries for 2020. This is a huge slain the face at the players, and further evidence that the owners would rather see no season than risk losing money by playing games without fans in the building.

As has been reported many owners fear the second wave of the coronavirus whipping out the postseason, if numbers do indeed rise again in the fall. That is just guess work now, and it feels like the owners are using the virus as an excuse. They fear the second wave of the virus, but the League has no real concrete plan to tackle the issue head-on in a regular season, albeit 82 games, 50 games or 114 games. There is no plan right now.

The players of course are not going to go along for the ride on a shorter season. There is too much at stake for them. If, for example, baseball played a 50 game season, and a player has a bad stretch during those 50 games it could have a negative impact on pending free agency. A player could get injured for playing at only 30 percent of their salary. Is it really worth it? That is the question the players are pondering right now, and according to reports, some don't feel it's worth it.

The question is, can the two sides keep talking? Will an agreement magically come into place, and will we get some semblance of a season this year? It's anyone's guess how this is going to play out. But the expectation a month ago that baseball could potentially resume Spring Training this month is becoming tougher to see with each passing hour and day.

If baseball does not come back, and the carnage continues with furloughs, and closed facilities - especially at the minor league level - the damage could be irreparable.