MLB Comes to Agreement With Umpires That Could Help Save 2020 Season

Major League Baseball has reportedly seen momentum building to a late June start, amid the coronavirus pandemic. However, the main non-public-health hurdle preventing the 2020 regular season from taking place involves a salary reduction. The league and its players still have further talks to complete, but the MLB Umpires Association needed to be taken care of, too, a harder deadline to hit, considering umps aren't quite as incentivized to agree as the front-facing players are.

But you can now breathe a bit easier, baseball fans.

According to Jesse Rogers of ESPN Chicago, MLB and the MLBUA agreed to terms on umpire salaries for the 2020 season.

Major League Baseball have come to an agreement with umpires for the rest of 2020, per a source. Details to come
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) May 1, 2020

USA Today's Bob Nightengale reports that umpires will see about a 30% pay cut for the upcoming season. Initially, the Umpires Association had made an offer of taking a 20% salary reduction, but the league countered with 35%. Obviously, both sides agreed to take the middle ground to ensure that baseball can resume without further hitches.

MLB had been pushing to reach an agreement with the umpires union by this weekend. Had they not accomplished this task, umpires wouldn't have been paid until play resumed.

The umpires will receive about a 30% paycut.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) May 1, 2020

This is a major roadblock that MLB avoided. Recent reports indicated that the league is looking to hold regular season games at teams' respective ballparks without fans in the attendance. Additionally, the league could be realigned to three 10-team divisions based off geographical location.

There are still plenty of things that need to be done in order for baseball to be played during the COVID-19 crisis. Agreeing to a payment restructure with the league's umpires brings MLB one step closer to their dream.