Padres fans – perhaps all won’t be lost at Petco Park in 2020 after all.
Baseball plans to settle for a radically shortened season after weeks of contentious back and forth with the players union over when and how to return to the field.
Baseball and union officials have continued meeting, according to the Associated Press, over a variety of issues, including:
- Adding more teams to the playoffs.
- Having the designated hitter in games in the National League
- Altering play in extra innings.
The Major League Baseball Players Association’s executive board, the AP reported, overwhelmingly rejected baseball owners’ latest offer on Monday.
With the move, according to the report, baseball owners approved a 60-game schedule. It is set to be played in ballparks, with fans barred, a source told the Associated Press, based on a grant of anonymity.
Baseball officials called on the players’ union to respond by 2 p.m. PST Tuesday regarding dates and acceptance of a slate of safety protocols.
Owners hope players can start a modified spring training around July 1. For a time, teams had hoped to start the season around July 4.
Instead, talks with players got heated, particularly over the structure of prorated salaries. Players typically play a 162-game season.
Player Trevor Bauer responded to the development, as did sportswriters, with some grumbling about the state of labor relations in the game:
Source: Owners plan to implement 60-game season once union responds to two questions posed in statement. https://t.co/6Erj1jLpfK
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) June 23, 2020
It’s absolute death for this industry to keep acting as it has been. Both sides. We’re driving the bus straight off a cliff. How is this good for anyone involved? Covid 19 already presented a lose lose lose situation and we’ve somehow found a way to make it worse. Incredible. ??♂️
— Trevor Bauer (@BauerOutage) June 22, 2020
Spring training will start July 1, with the 60-game regular season starting the weekend of July 24-26. Play ball.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) June 23, 2020
And the dominoes are now likely set to tumble:
1. Implementation of a short season by MLB
2. Some players choosing not to play.
3. PA grievance
4. Upcoming free agents get destroyed in market
5. All major labor issues merely deferred to next spring.
Mutually assured destruction.— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) June 22, 2020
– Staff reports