Despite weeks of negotiating between Major League Baseball and the Players Association, it does not seem that the two sides are close to an agreement on the 2020 regular season.
The players have made it clear they want full prorated salaries, as was agreed to in March, but they also want a long enough season to determine a legitimate champion. The owners, on the other hand, are trying to save as much money as possible and are only willing to pay full prorated salaries for a shorter season of around 50 games.
In the MLBPA’s latest proposal, it called for an 89-game season with full prorated salaries. The league responded to that on Friday by proposing a 72-game season with around a maximum of 80% of prorated salaries, showing that the two sides are still a bit off.
One thing that the two sides seem to be in agreement on is an expanded postseason in order to create more revenue while also allowing all teams a fair shot of making it in a shortened season. It seems that a 16-team postseason is likely and also, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the Wild Card could go from a one-game, winner-take-all to a best-of-three series:
If you factor in the $50 million playoff pool, players would get 83% of their pro-rated salaries if the World Series is played. The proposal also provides for best-of-three wild-card rounds instead of a one game. So there could be a total of 16 more postseason games this year.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) June 12, 2020
Part of what has made the Wild Card Game so great in recent years is that everything is up for grabs in one game, although making it a best-of-three likely wouldn’t change that too dramatically.
While the two sides don’t seem to be coming to an agreement on the financial side of things, the fact that they are on the same page for an expanded postseason likely means that a Wild Card series will happen regardless of whatever regular-season format commissioner Rob Manfred imposes.
That’s good news for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who would have a better chance of advancing in the postseason with more games played due to the talent on their roster if they are not able to win their division.
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