Gomez: MLB Owners, Players Still Work To Do

Major League Baseball may be making progress when it comes to unifying the owners and players in regards to the 2020 season but there’s still work to do before we see baseball this summer according to one baseball insider.

ESPN’s Pedro Gomez feels the earliest the possible 48-game season could start is around August 1st. 

“I think there may still be some negotiating going on here during the next week to two weeks – maybe longer to try to get something so the season can start earlier than that,” Gomez told Sports360AZ.com’s Jordan Hamm in a Skype interview Wednesday morning. “If it does come down to it, there is still a little bit of time.”

“Everything I’ve been told, the season has to end on September 27th. The post-season television dates are locked into the month of October. The networks cannot guarantee anything beyond that.”

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred on ESPN: The league will make a new proposal to the MLBPA after receiving the union’s 89-game proposal last night. He said it will be a “significant move in the players’ direction” but “if we have to we’ll exercise that right” to set a 48-game season.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) June 10, 2020

The post-season television revenue is a big moneymaker for all parties so it’s paramount those dates don’t shift to a later date.

In addition, according to Gomez, they don’t want the season extending into the first week of November and the general election which is on the 3rd. 

It may very well come down to Commissioner Rob Manfred stepping after the owners, who back in March, initially agreed to pay the players their full pro-rated salaries in the shortened season but have since rescinded the offer. 

“I don’t think they’re going to be able to come to an agreement on anything less than 100 percent pro-rated,” Gomez explained. “I would not be surprised if the Commissioner just unilaterally – which is in his powers – says, ‘Ok, we’re going to have a 48-game season and that’s it. We’ll have the post-season after.'”