MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
Signals strong that players, owners both want to play ball
The two most soothing words in sports can be camouflaged by numbers and selfishness, by fine print and bold statements, by threats and by promises. Yet there they were in recent days, even if all the static made them difficult to hear. Play ball.
That’s what Major League Baseball is proposing, if only for an absurd period of 50 games.
That’s what the Major League Players Association is proposing, even for an absurd schedule of 114 games that would push the World Series close to December.
But just the fact that they have the same idea is enough to conclude that it will happen.
That it has had to be so complicated is unfortunate. By now, some players should have had the courage to say, “We want to play baseball, not just because we owe it to the fans, but because we love the game.” Have any? So, too, should the owners have announced that nothing is more important to them than providing entertainment to kids, shut-ins, families and others.
Considering that both sides have been trafficking in greed if not taxpayer extortion for more than 50 years, it’s not surprising that the messages have been more about money than obligation. Too many players, and $330,000,000 man Bryce Harper was one, effectively have whined about how working during a pandemic was too risky for the price. And the owners, every one sitting on a billion-buck, anti-trust-exempted franchise, have made it clear that lost box-office and media revenues have forced them to cut back.
The other day, the Phillies, whose front-man enjoys a private jet with a team logo and who is said to be worth $3 billion, reportedly began shaving salaries of front-office employees. The pandemic, John Middleton was found to have explained, would cost the operation $100 million this year. That’s a staggering number, but it easily could have been kept private. Instead, it was leaked as a poor-mouth play.
So neither side is pure. And until they resume play, both must be branded as filthy. They all have had three months to figure things out. Instead, they keep delaying.
Is it a health issue? If so, why can’t the same engineers who fitted every major-league ballpark seat with a cup-holder as a subliminal message to buy beer find the scientific brilliance to fill those slots with bottles of hand sanitizer? And why can’t the slobs who play and manage the game while spitting every 11 seconds agree to stop that unhealthy spread of germs? Is it a cash issue? Well, there has been plenty of time to do any creative accounting. There is no reason that Memorial Day has passed and the goal of a June training session before a grand July 4 return of America’s pastime is becoming threatened. But it’s not over. And the talks are encouraging.
Neither the players’ nor the owners’ plan will be in place when baseball returns from a delay that has kept the tarp on the infield for too long. Each is too radical. Yet both define the area where a season-length can be found that could satisfy both sides.
Of the dueling proposals, the players’ is the most reasonable. They want to play as many games as possible, which should always be the idea. They are also agreeable to an expanded postseason, something that would yield the owners more money. The hold-ups are that it would drag the regular season through October and the postseason into late November, burying the pennant races and championship games in the NFL season. The players also want to have their salaries pro-rated for the number of scheduled games regardless of how many fans are permitted to attend. The owners, who likely will face limits on tickets they are permitted to sell, are right to fight that demand.
But the owners’ frivolous plan for 50 or 60 games is frivolous basically would create instant pennant races. With that, ace pitchers would feel obligated to go longer in games and work on shorter rest, as they might in late August and September of a typical season. They have not been conditioned for that, nor should they be expected to take that career risk. Also, 50 games are insufficient to prevent a career .230 hitter from getting just hot enough to steal a batting title. And don’t think the owners haven’t considered the possibility that some soon-to-be free agents could slump in such a brief time to suppress future payrolls.
So it’s not going to be 50 games. Or 114. But isn’t it curious that the difference between 50 and 114 is 64? Split the difference, which is reasonable in any negotiation, and darn if that doesn’t come out to 82 games. Oddly enough, that’s the exact number the players have leaked all along that they would be comfortable with, and it would be sufficient if not ideal to protect the statistical history of the sport.
There is enough room in each proposal to settle service-time issues and re-fit ballparks and clubhouses to better protect the health of the players, fans and game-day personnel. And there would be enough time from July through late October to squeeze in what would be the length of a typical NHL or NBA regular-season.
So that’s what the numbers suggest: An 82game schedule that would satisfy the players and an expanded postseason that would benefit the owners.
If that was both sides’ way of saying, “Play ball,” it was soothing.