#MLB 2020 season on verge of painful Rob Manfred resolution

The most influential players huddled virtually all weekend to discuss where they stood on MLB’s last offer, including with slight modifications that came Sunday. But all indications were they remained resolved against accepting the current version of a proposed 60-game season.

That will only push commissioner Rob Manfred to more seriously move toward pressing the button he has wanted to avoid: Unilaterally implementing a season.

All of this, though, is playing out against a backdrop of rising COVID-19 cases in important baseball states that have both owners and players deciding what is the proper next step. It leaves the situation fluid, open for potentially further attempts at a deal or even moving some owners to more seriously consider whether to try a season at all.

If Manfred does unilaterally implement, as is his collectively bargained right on the condition that the players get their prorated pay, the probability is he would impose a schedule at 48-54 games, though he could install at 60 and see if the fight against COVID-19 allows that many games.

As first reported by ESPN, Manfred on Sunday sent PA executive director Tony Clark a letter that offered the cancellation of expanded playoffs and the universal designated hitter for 2021, on top of the conditions already featured in the 60-game package, if this season does not complete the World Series due to the coronavirus.

Since the owners very much want more entries in the playoffs and are on board with the universal DH, this feature would give the players an added leverage point — another bite of the apple, essentially — should the worst-case scenario arise. In the event of a COVID cancellation, the union could attempt to gain something else in return for those 2021 additives.

The union’s executive board, which includes 30 team representatives plus the eight members of the executive subcommittee, delayed its vote momentarily on Sunday to further contemplate and discuss this potential sweetener — the PA’s most recent proposal called for a 70-game regular season. However, the board was leaning heavily toward the notion that these last-minute tweaks didn’t change their overall opinion of the proposal. The timing of the formal vote remained publicly unclear as of Sunday evening.

Manfred’s letter Sunday reflected how badly he wanted to avoid unilateral implementation, for multiple reasons: 1) It wouldn’t include the extra playoff games; 2) Without a cooperative spirit surrounding the game’s return, some players might opt out and essentially boycott the season; and 3) It would leave open the possibility for the players to file a grievance against the owners for failing to negotiate in good faith, although the owners could file an identical grievance against the players.

As part of his letter to Clark on Sunday, Manfred urged that a 70-game regular season wasn’t feasible in light of the desire to finish the World Series by the end of October. As first reported by The Athletic, Manfred pointed out that the shift of spring training from Florida and Arizona sites to home ballparks, the result of COVID-19 outbreaks in those two states, would further delay the opening of camps until no earlier than June 29. Allowing for three-plus weeks of spring training, the commissioner argued, left 66 days to play 60 games by Sept. 27, the day MLB would like to conclude the regular season.

The players, as part of their desire to play more games (which would result in more pay), had expressed a willingness to push the regular-season calendar to mid-October. However, MLB has opposed that idea because of medical concerns that coronavirus will get worse as the weather cools, as well as the facts baseball’s broadcast partners would prefer to air the games in October and MLB does not want to go up against the presidential election on Nov. 3. The recent spiking of coronavirus in not only Florida and Arizona but also the important baseball state Texas enhanced MLB’s argument that the sport shouldn’t press its luck with too many games.

Though their negotiations have been contentious, the players and owners have come close to agreeing on health and safety conditions as well. While both sides signed off on the radical notion of putting a runner on second base in extra innings and even calling tie games after a certain number of innings — all in the interest of limiting players’ exposure to one another — those understandings wouldn’t be enforced via unilateral implementation.