Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports
Larry Baer said no, Major League Baseball is not running out of time. Yes, Baer said, there are signs of optimism the league and the Players Association can reach agreement and get on the field this summer.
What is slipping away, though, is hope that July 4 will feature baseball. June is here and spring training 2.0 is not, MLB and the union still going back and forth, still a ways away from economic approval as other leagues push forward.
The NBA is looking toward July 31 for a re-start. The NHL has not announced a target date, but late July/early August is likely. If MLB indeed pushes forward with an especially short season, in the 50-game range, perhaps late July is doable.
“What could happen is all the sports start about the same time,” Baer said on “Tolbert, Krueger & Brooks” on Thursday.
For both lengthened-season reasons and symbolism, baseball has hoped to return for Independence Day, which would mean an agreement by about, well, today, camps opening in about a week that would last three weeks before the regular season began. Major League Baseball began negotiations by proposing an 82-game season in which the players took additional (and steep, in many cases) pay cuts; the union responded with a 114-game offer with prorated play, and MLB countered with a 50-ish-game season with the union’s desired prorated play.
The union would like a longer season to recoup as much money as possible. MLB would like to save that money and believes it has the authority to install the short season if necessary.
“If you take a mid-July start, first, second week of July, there’s still opportunity to do that as we sit on June 4,” the Giants CEO said. “… I can’t give you what the timeline is, but I believe there is time to craft a deal. The fact that proposals have gone back and forth, I’m going to hang on to optimism.”
Baer pointed to the fact the two sides have just about agreed on health protocols should the season start up, meaning the economic hurdle is really the only one left. Still, it’s tough to find a bright side when MLB could have been the only sport to watch through much of July, and now it’s looking as if a return to the field would be just one option for fans to watch.