MLB gives players ‘final’ proposal with 72-game season

NEW YORK — Major League Baseball and its players are moving closer — to a deal or to commissioner Rob Manfred ordering a shortened season without an agreement.

MLB offered players 80% of their prorated salaries and a 72-game schedule beginning July 14 in an effort to start the pandemic-delayed season, according to details of the proposal obtained by the Associated Press.

Players would get 70% of their prorated salaries during the regular season and the rest for completion of the post-season under MLB’s plan, given to the union on Friday.

“This represents our final proposal for a 72-game season,” deputy commissioner Dan Halem wrote in a letter to union chief negotiator Bruce Meyer. “You should let us know by the end of the day on June 14 whether players desire to accept it.”

Teams cut their proposed schedule each time they make an offer due to the calendar, unwilling to delay the World Series past October. Because salaries are tied to games, total pay for the year decreases as time goes by.

The players’ last offer, on Tuesday, was for an 89-game regular season at full prorated pay. The union said it will convene a call of players to discuss its response, but players repeatedly have said they don’t intend to move off their stance for full prorated pay.

Players have insisted they receive 100% of their prorated salaries, the terms the sides agreed to in March. But MLB told the union that playing in empty ballparks without gate revenue would cause a loss of $640,000 US for each additional game played and that teams can’t afford 100% prorated pay. The union has said it doubts MLB’s figures.

Manfred has threatened to unilaterally call for a schedule of about 50 games if teams must pay 100% prorated salaries. Both sides say they would agree to expand the playoffs from 10 teams to 16 in 2020 and 2021, but an agreement is needed for that to happen.