Rob Manfred and Tony Clark Met Face-to-Face and We Had Better Get an MLB Season Now

The MLB and MLBPA have been locking horns for the last three months with regards to how long the 2020 MLB season should be and what players can expect to make, and only minimal progress has been made, if any at all. Luckily for baseball fans desperate for a season, Commissioner Rob Manfred met Wednesday with MLBPA boss Tony Clark in hopes of forging a long-delayed consensus.

Just days after Manfred expressed doubts over the validity of a season in 2020, the commissioner requested to meet with the players association's executive director. According to insider Jon Heyman, the meeting was "productive."

Breaking: MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and players union chief Tony Clark had what’s being called a productive meeting face to face in Arizona. Meeting was called at Manfred’s request
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) June 17, 2020

The two sides have been so conceptually distant with regards to what they think the 2020 season should look like for so long that either Manfred or Clark will inevitably have to force their side to make additional concessions if this labor standoff is ever going to cease.

Baseball fans are still a bit nervous after this latest development, however. Several times during these negotiations, just when it looked as if things were starting to turn, the whole process was effectively reset back to square one after the emergence of a major snag.

Tomorrow:

Turns out Manfred wasn’t wearing a mask. Tony Clark caught the Rona. MLB players take it as a direct attack. Baseball fields across the country up in flames https://t.co/WBCAbG4UJU
— S M A R F (@ColeyMick) June 17, 2020

Hopefully, this dialog is finally something different.

Sobr, face-to-face negotiations in good faith may be the only way that any sort of progress can be made after these months of struggle. The fact that the heads of the two warring factions are finally meeting is good news for baseball fans, even if it's only the modest kind.