With the NBA returning, MLB negotiations continue

With the NBA returning, unfortunately, MLB negotiations remain at a standstill.

Baseball fans felt their heart sink when news of the NBA returning broke yesterday. Without a hitch, Adam Silver and NBA teams agreed to a deal to bring the game back on July 31. Meanwhile, MLB negotiations continue and seem to get uglier by the minute.

When will baseball learn? Over the last 30 years, while the game’s popularity continues to slip, MLB has managed to cancel the World Series (in 1994), enabled the steroid era, not including the Biogenesis scandal, and then completely fumbled the worst cheating scandal in the sport’s history.

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Now, they engage in neverending talks, each side — the millionaires and the billionaires — airing each other’s laundry for all to see. Meanwhile, America’s unemployment rate soars past 40 million, a pandemic continues to threaten lives, and we’re approaching the 11th day of protests against systemic racism and police brutality.

What’s more, the NBA is set to run through October 31, which means that if baseball does return, they’ll essentially be competing for ratings with a league that, let’s face it, is much more popular.

How does baseball mishandle this? They had an opportunity to win some fans over, to be the only major sport playing across the US.

They could have shown some solidarity, set the bickering aside. Owners should have opened their books, while players should have agreed to take a little less money.

Instead, we heard players bark about getting theirs whilst gaming on twitch, we saw teams furloughing employees and cutting hoards of minor leaguers to save money (i.e. the $5B Yankees cutting 45 MiLB players), and both sides did not once take each other’s offers seriously.

Fans are taking notice, and now America’s 3rd favorite sport is threatening to fall behind the NHL, who also struck a deal to return.

At some point, something’s got to change in MLB. Given how these negotiations look, the next CBA promises to also be contentious. Hopefully, the league and its players take notice of the hit they’re currently taking, because if they decide to not play this season, fans will abandon them. And they’d be right to do so.