NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Major League Baseball may be forced into a regular season of around 50 games if players and owners do not reach an agreement on how to start the season already shortened by coronavirus.
Players and owners remain deadlocked in negotiations over salaries.
The Players Association proposed a season of 89 games with full-prorated salaries on Tuesday, but owners have said they want players to take a bigger pay cut to make up for lost revenue with games likely being played in empty stadiums.
One owner source told Radio.com insider Jon Heyman that the two sides are nowhere near an agreement.
Now, USA Today reports if the two don’t come to a deal in the next week, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred may have no choice but to implement a shortened season, anywhere from 48 to 54 games.
Longtime Daily News columnist Bill Madden told WCBS 880’s Brad Heller that the players nor the owners want that scenario.
“A season that short would have no validity to it whatsoever. You’d have a post season almost as long as the regular season because they want to get as many post-season games and as many teams in to the post season,” he said.
Both sides have agreed on an expanded post-season, but still need to work out the details of the regular season first.
Meanwhile, sports-starved fans are chomping at the bit to watch a live game. A new Monmouth University poll shows nearly 6 in 10 miss being able to watch live pro-sports. Baseball tops the list of sports missed the most with 49 percent saying they can't wait for the ump to yell "Play ball" again.