A Delay To The Major League Baseball’s Regular Season Feels Almost Inevitable, And I Am Sad
The MLBPA and the owners met to discuss various issues for the fourth consecutive day. And for the fourth straight day, they came back having made limited progress. We're now four days away from the proposed deadline for regular-season baseball games to be canceled. And at this point, I think we're essentially prolonging the inevitable. Pending a miracle (and I am praying for a miracle), the regular season will likely be delayed. I don't know how long it'll be. I wouldn't put anything past them at this point.
People who are much brighter than me will break down the issues and talk about solving them. I can't do that. I can only give my honest assessment, and I'm devastated. Every baseball fan should be crushed. Both sides fail to understand that a delay to the season will impact everybody. If this season gets delayed, it's not going to make the owners or the players into martyrs because they fought for what they think is right. They're both going to look like suckers, whether that's fair or not. If you put a gun to my head and asked me about every one of these issues, I would be pro player on 99% of them. In an ideal world, the players would get what they want. They're the ones who bust their ass and play the game. But sadly, they aren't going to get everything they want. They probably aren't going to get close to everything they want, which is where you compromise. On the other end, you have 30 greedy people who run baseball teams that probably don't love the game of baseball very much, and they're ruining it for everybody.
I'm not pro player, and I sure as hell am not pro owner. I'm pro whatever the hell is going to get us a baseball season at this point. When watching a baseball game, I don't think about arbitration. When I watch a great player, I don't think about how many years he has until he becomes a free agent. I just consume 162 Tigers games a year. Does that make me naive and short sighted? For sure, but I don't care. I want baseball back, and we're four days away from being unable to consume my favorite sport in the world on time. I know it's not personal, but goddamn, I miss it. We are witnessing a sport that is consistently putting a gun in its mouth while simultaneously complaining about how much they hate the taste of metal. It's just tiring. The only emotion I feel is devastation. I'll continue to care, even if no one else does.