When MLB announced on March 12th it was postponing Spring Training and delaying the start of the regular season two weeks, I don’t think anyone realized what would transpire in the months to come.
The most important thing to note in this entire timeline, is the March agreement between MLB and the Players Union (MLBPA), that stated players would receive full pro-rated salaries when the season does start, meaning if teams played an 81-game schedule, players would get 50% of their full, already agreed-upon money.
And then the virus crisis got worse, the timeline continued to get pushed back, and back, and back, and MLB owners began to get cold feet.
The alleged revenue and expenditure projections owners continue to bring up (yet have failed to make fully transparent to the public) have caused them to renege on this agreement, and site specific legal language in the agreement that may or may not give them the right to go back on the March agreement.
The two sides have gone back and forth over the last month, offering deals which they know the other side is sure to reject, and have made this debate a public circus, rather than a productive, good-faith negotiation.
The owners strategy is quite clear: engage in a war of attrition.
Attrition Warfare is a military strategy in which one uses belligerent attempts to win a war by wearing down the enemy to the point of collapse through continuous losses in personnel and material.
The winner of these types of wars is always the side with more resources, power, and money, and that is precisely why the owners continue to insist on engaging in such a battle.
Commissioner Rob Manfred, who is but a cog in the owners machine, has the right to mandate a shortened season of around 48-50 games, and while both sides would prefer to have a deal done rather than a commissioner mandated decree, the owners know this reality, and have made it clear through their negotiations that they will hold their line because of it.
Essentially what the owners are doing is masking their offers, which are all essentially the same thing in different forms, in different camouflage, in the hopes of getting the public on their side and ultimately forcing the players and the union to cave.
The problem? The players aren’t caving, and it sure doesn’t sound like they are going too either.
The last two months have made it extremely clear what the owners main and sole priority is, and I’ll give you a hint, it rhymes with honey.
The billionaire owners have made two things very clear of the last few months:
- they simply do not value the interests of the fans
- they view the players as a means to an end
In an ideal world, one would like to think these owners purchased these teams not as their primary source of income, but as a means of giving millions of fans and citizens in their cities happiness, excitement, joy, and an escape from the burdens of real life.
One would like to think that during a global pandemic in which millions across the country are unemployed, broke, and hungry, the owners would be willing to bite the bullet of potential losses for one season, and be a source of hope, normalcy, and inspiration during these tough times.
But that is not reality. The reality is, the owners care more about their bottomline than they do of the players, and certainly than they do of you or me.
The most puzzling aspect of all of this to me is how the owners could be so shortsighted in regards to returning to play in early July.
Americans have been starved for live sports for months now. People are watching Korean Baseball at 2am and marble racing on ESPN, and not to mention the celebrity golf match between Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Tom Brady, and Peyton Manning drew in a massive average of 5.8 million viewers, a golf broadcast record.
The opportunity to be the only major sport playing in Amerca is sitting right there for them like a low hanging fruit ripe for the plucking, and the owners are turned in the opposite direction with a blindfold on casting their fishing lines in a dried up lake.
The new fans the sport has been desperately trying to attain for years now are sitting right in front of their face, but the owners are too blinded by the possibility of short term losses that they cannot see the all but certain future gains if they were to return to play immediately and get creative with their showcasing of the game (i.e mic’s on players, etc).
They have made it clear that they view the players and fans as a means to an end, and that is the sad truth about the leaders of  the sport I hold close to my heart.
I fully expect both parties to keep their feet entrenched on their side of the battle line. I do not believe the two will come to an agreement, and ultimately, Manfred will be forced, to the delight of the owners, to institute the 48-50 game shortened season.
Remember what I said about Attrition Warfare? The side with more resources, power, and money almost always wins.
David Rosenthal is a writer and contributor for Dodgers LowDown. Follow him on twitter @_TherealDRose
Photo Credit: AP/LM Otero