Rob Manfred Left With Little Choice But to Implement Season After Negotiations With MLBPA Fall Through
By Mark Powell
The owners and players have made a public embarrassment over what should've been a rather easy negotiating process in a time when this nation -- currently facing a pandemic -- needed its pastime the most.
Regardless of who is to blame, neither side made many concessions, and the owners' latest 60-game proposal has been responded to with a resounding no.
Timing is of the essence, and Rob Manfred has no choice but to implement a 2020 season, assuming the owners would like one to happen at all.
Commissioner Rob Manfred is scheduled to implement a 60-game season that will start July 29, although no official announcement yet
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) June 22, 2020
It was far from a seamless process, but a 60-game campaign beginning in late July aligns MLB with the likes of the NHL and NBA, with both major sports expected to resume play at the same time. The details of a return to baseball are far more complicated, especially as Florida -- a potential hub for MLB action -- regresses back into a COVID-19 danger zone.
Quick newser at ESPN, which will be updated as more information comes in. The MLBPA has rejected a 60-game season with expanded playoffs and, absent an 11th-hour agreement seen as unlikely, MLB can impose a schedule and baseball will finally have a season: https://t.co/jfLSUO5Mbg
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) June 22, 2020
The lack of an agreement opens MLB up to legal action, and creates the possibility of certain players sitting out a season even should Manfred unilaterally decide to impose one.
There is more to come on this story, one we're all surely tired of hearing about by now.