Ok Ok the title might be deceiving but I truly think that Baseball now is right around the corner and we are no longer gonna be bored to death. On June 17th, the MLB sent an offer to the MLBPA reported by Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic. The offer was composed of 60 games in 70 days, the season starting around July 19th, FULL PRORATED SALARY, expanded playoffs, and finally waiving of any potential grievance. Now what do I think about this offer? Well I think we are very close to getting a deal done now, the full prorated contracts is what makes this never a possibility for the player. As of June 18th the MLBPA counteroffer with 70 games instead of 60 games but it’ll most likely be rejected. So now the MLB and MLBPA will have to decide the amount of games between 61-69 games. Personally I was surprised we got 60 games out of the MLB but I think 61-69 games is very reasonable. Now let’s get into the fun stuff about the new season.
Expanded Playoffs: There has never been a better time to try out expanded playoffs then right now, and with the shortened season it’ll make the season ever more competitive. Every game is gonna matter like the NBA and the NFL, teams are gonna have to figure out how to use their superstars off days. We are gonna see teams we didn’t expect to make the playoffs in a 162 game season like the Angels, Mets, Rangers, Phillies, Blue Jays, Red Sox, Padres, and a bunch others. The possible matchups like Trout vs Cole, Judge vs Kluber and a bunch more that we probably wouldn’t have seen if the expanded playoffs didn’t happen. The expanded playoffs will bring more money from the provider and that means more money for the players and the owners.
Does this effect the Yankees and Mets?: Well it’s the opposite for each team, the Mets now have a legitimate chance of making the playoffs and probably will be heartbreaking if they don’t. The Yankees will need less injuries and a lot more consistency from their players. Guys like Pete Alonso and Gleyber Torres will need to really step up their games to help their team win. Aaron Boone will need to figure out how to use his bullpen wisely everyday so they have arms for the next couple of days. And the Mets will need to figure out how to limit injury opportunities to deGrom because of what happened to Syndergaard in Spring. A lot of questions will have to be answered with this situation but if both teams make the playoffs it would be the first time NY had both teams in the playoffs since 2015.
June 18th Proposal: So the updated newest proposal from the MLBPA is a 70 game season, $50M in playoff bonuses, 50/50 split of the new postseason TV revenues in 2021, forgiveness of salary advance for Tier I-III players, universal DH, and finally mutual waiver of grievance. So this is pretty interesting, I like the universal DH and that’s about it for me. Everything else looks like that it could be sorted in between the end of the 2020 season and 2021 Spring Training. The last two days have been positive steps forward for the MLB and MLBPA, and I think a deal will be done in the upcoming week. LETS GO YANKEES!!
TheDyspatch 