“Close, but no cigar” on latest MLB proposal

Although things seemed to be going somewhere on Wednesday, that was ultimately not the case. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and union executive director Tony Clark met face-to-face on Wednesday to try and carve out some semblance of a plan for the 2020 season.

After four hours of discussion, the MLB thought they had arrived at a good place when they proposed a 60-game regular season plan that would pay players their full prorated salaries and expand the playoffs from 10 to 16 teams for the next two seasons. However, the players just couldn’t quite get down with the plan, believing that 60 games is too few.

The current plan would start the season on July 19 or 20. It would also end by September 27, which coincides with the recent advisement by Dr. Fauci to withhold playing into the month of October.

While no agreement has been made, Manfred believes the plan they jointly constructed “could form the basis of an agreement and subject to conversations with our respective constituents.”

The last proposal pushed out by the players was for a 72-game season. They believe there is still plenty of room to negotiate for an increase from 60 and that’s likely what they’ll be harping on over the coming days. The framework laid down by Manfred and Clark finally got the MLB to offer full prorated salaries, which was the main sticking point for players, so there’s no reason to believe conversations won’t inch close and closer to a compromise both sides can agree upon.