The MLBPA and MLB are roughly 64 games apart in their latest respective plans for the 2020 regular season.
Sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan that MLB could propose a much shorter season than what the MLBPA proposed earlier this week.
The potential season Major League Baseball envisions would run somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 regular-season games, sources told ESPN. The exact number is being considered, but the aim would be to return in July. It would be less than half of players’ proposed season length.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) June 1, 2020
These discussions came after a 114-game proposal with salaries being fully prorated.
Source: MLBPA delivered its proposal to the league on Sunday afternoon.
ª Schedule: 114 games, June 30-Oct. 31
• Two years of expanded playoffs
• $100 million of total deferred money
• Opt out for all players if they don’t want to play— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) June 1, 2020
A 114-game season with full pro-rata for the players gives them over 70.37 percent of their original 2020 salary, whereas a 50-game season would give them under 30.86 percent of their original 2020 salary.
The owners would obviously want a shorter season so they do not have to pay the players as much while abiding by the March “prorated salaries” agreement.
The players’ proposal would consist of 114 games over 124 days. According to Passan, MLB just wants 50 games starting in July. Last year, teams played 81 games between July 11 and Sept. 29.
Hypothetically, if MLB proposes a 50-game season, the players could respond in a few different ways:
- Accept a 50-game regular season full pro-rata
- Counter with an 82-game regular season full pro-rata
- One game more than half of a normal season game
- Counters where the two sides stand
- Counter with a 100-game regular season full pro-rata
- It’s a round number and only a small reduction of their latest proposal
- Hold their ground
There is obviously a near-infinite amount of possibilities to bring back baseball in 2020, but players getting full prorated salaries is a likely outcome due to a lot of buzz recently on Twitter, including from defending World Series champion Max Scherzer.
— Max Scherzer (@Max_Scherzer) May 28, 2020
Passan also noted that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said a new proposal will get to the MLBPA “promptly.”
The negotiations have been summed up as the two sides aren’t even on the field yet, they are still in their “tunnels.”
"These months that baseball is used to having all to itself suddenly have become the domain of all of these other sports and there's the possibility it's going to get absolutely cannibalized"#MLB insider @JeffPassan fills us in on the negotiations #PatMcAfeeShowLIVE pic.twitter.com/OOjkAMZeti
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) June 1, 2020
