Confetti flying at the end of a Super Bowl typically marks the beginning of baseball season.
Not this year.
This week, pitchers and catchers are supposed to be due to report to their camps in Arizona and Florida to begin the spring training grind in preparation for a full season baseball.
Instead, Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association are still locked in a stalemate on the collective bargaining negotiations, stuck in a league-imposed lockout that began on Dec. 2. The pitchers-and-catchers report dates this week will fly by with both sides far apart on an agreement.
Some players weren’t surprised that spring training is already experiencing delays.
“It’s not shocking, but it is very disappointing,” said A’s pitcher Chris Bassitt. “The game has such exciting players currently and for us to not be on time is a complete failure.”
Spring is around the corner with no baseball in sight. How much longer will this last? Here’s a look at some questions surrounding the season.
What’s the latest on labor negotiations right now?
A large gap separates the MLB and the MLBPA from coming to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement.
Major League Baseball presented the players’ union with a proposal on Saturday that did not go over well, according to reports. The players will need to respond in a meeting that has not yet been scheduled. Things are moving slow.
Among the economic part of the league’s latest proposal was a $5 million increase in the pre-arbitration bonus pool, but a major gap remains with the union asking for a $100 million bonus pool and the league sitting at $15 million.
The union’s priority is for the league to significantly up the luxury tax threshold, with proposals to have the first tax threshold jump from its current $210 million up to $245 million. But the league has pushed against that in their proposals, offering a $2 million threshold raise over three of the next five years. (That means it would progress from $214 million, $214 million, $216 million, $218 million and $222 million as opposed to their initial offer of $214 million, $214 million, $214 million, $216 million and $220 million.)
According to reports, the union is not pleased with those incremental changes. MLB and the owners also want to increase the tax rates on each tax threshold, bumping the first threshold from 20% to 50% — a proposed change that drew the ire of Giants pitcher Alex Wood.
Proposals from the league have moved the needle inches when there are miles to go to reach an agreement.
How likely are the spring games in February or early March to be canceled/postponed?
Those late-February and early-March games are fast approaching with no end to the CBA negotiations in sight. Though an agreement can be reached quickly at any time, both sides are far apart, pitchers and catchers report dates came and went without a blink and spring training games look far less likely to happen as scheduled.
So the odds are high that scheduled spring training games will be postponed or canceled. Even if you made plans to watch the A’s and Giants play in Scottsdale on St. Patrick’s Day, more than a month from now, you may want to reconsider.
When would Opening Day start to be jeopardized?
The regular season is supposed to start March 31, and both sides have something to lose should the lockout creep into the regular season. Fewer games means less revenue for the teams. And the players could lose some of their salary for games not played.
Urgency to start the season on time hasn’t translated to negotiations. If the goal is to make spring training a month long — players risk injury in a shorter spring training — a deal must be struck sometime in early March at the latest for Opening Day to go on as scheduled.
If talks don’t intensify between now and then — unless spring training is shortened — Opening Day could very well be in peril.
What happens if the regular season doesn’t start on time?
Shortened seasons aren’t unfamiliar territory in the age of COVID. If Opening Day doesn’t happen as scheduled, it’s possible they shorten the season depending on how long it takes to reach a CBA deal. That would seem the most likely outcome — in 2020, the league made sure to start the postseason in the fall and shorten the regular season to 60 games over playing a full 162 on a different timeline.
What are the players up to?
Indefinite delays aren’t unfamiliar for MLB players. They learned the hard way during the COVID-19 shutdown how to stay prepared and in shape outside of a team facility. Many stayed in shape at facilities near their homes, others built or used at-home gyms and workout plans to stay ready.
Is there a chance they don’t play at all?
Negotiations would need to come to a complete standstill for this to happen. Odds are, the season will happen … eventually.
