For the first time in God knows when, MLB and the Players Association have met for four straight days this week, and they will be together for a fifth consecutive meeting on Friday.
One would think they at least made some minor strides from Monday to Thursday.
Think again.
If fans had any hopes of seeing both sides reach a deal this week on Monday, those hopes have all but disappeared by now.
Not even a miracle will result on an agreement today, and the chances of coming to terms by Monday are extremely slim.
Monday is an important day in negotiations because MLB said to the union that, if no deal was agreed by that day, regular season games would be lost and wouldn’t be rescheduled.
This is huge because players won’t get the full amount of their contracts if the season has fewer than 162 games.
The Sides Are Still Too Far Apart
“MLB and MLBPA plan to meet again tomorrow, a 5th straight day. MLB did not react well to the players’ proposals today. Once again, like the three preceding days, today brought no substantive progress,” was the tweet of The Athletic’s Evan Drellich to describe Thursday’s meeting.
MLB and MLBPA plan to meet again tomorrow, a 5th straight day. MLB did not react well to the players’ proposals today. Once again, like the three preceding days, today brought no substantive progress.
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) February 24, 2022
Fans may need to start bracing themselves for the possibility of not watching a regular season for a while.
MLB can lift the current, ongoing lockout anytime, and there would be a season.
However, they won’t do it: players would then ‘take advantage’ of the fact that a season can occur without the lockout, and would have all the leverage over owners.
In reality, it’s hard to see a quick resolution to the current conflict, as the two parties are very far apart in minimum salary, competitive balance tax (CBT), pre-arbitration bonus pool for outstanding players, and other important items.
NEXT: Reds Reliever Amir Garrett Comments On The MLB Lockout