One final time, Major League Baseball and its Players Association disagreed on a proposal to save the 2020 season. And yet, it appears more certain than ever that there will still be a 2020 season.
Maybe.
Roughly an hour after the union rejected the league's 60-game proposal in a 33-5 vote late Monday afternoon, the owners responded with a 30-0 vote authoring Rob Manfred to exercise his authority as commissioner, granted in a March 26 agreement, to implement a season. All that stands in the way is the union approving a set of safety protocols by the owners' deadline of 5 p.m. Tuesday.
If that happens, the start of a second spring training will be July 1. The season, per multiple reports, would be 60 games, though that wasn't official.
"The MLBPA Executive Board met multiples times in recent days to assess the status of our efforts to resume the 2020 season," the MLBPA released in a statement. "Earlier this evening, the full board reaffirmed the players' eagerness to return to work as soon and as safely as possible. To that end we anticipate finalizing a comprehensive set of health and safety protocols with Major League Baseball in the coming days, and we await word from the league on the resumption of spring training camps and a proposed 2020 schedule. While we had hoped to reach a revised back-to-work agreement with the league, the players remain fully committed to proceeding under our current agreement and getting back on the field for the fans, for the game, and for each other."
MLB released the following statement in response, saying "we are disappointed" by the union's rejection:
MLB's statement in response to the union's rejection of their 60-game season proposal pic.twitter.com/kgsZ7KxIzJ
— Alex Stumpf (@AlexJStumpf) June 23, 2020
