McAdam: Face-to-face meeting offers potential for Major League Baseball to avoid disaster

Reason and common sense were trailing late in the game until Tuesday.

But a ninth-inning rally has given them a chance.

Thanks to the first face-to-face meeting between commissioner Rob Manfred and Players Association executive director Tony Clark since March, there is now at least some optimism the 2020 baseball season can be salvaged. What's more, such a season would be the result of a negotiated agreement and not, as some had feared just days ago, one implemented by fiat by Manfred.

According to multiple reports, Manfred proposed a 60-game schedule Tuesday that would begin July 19 and end on Sept. 27, to be followed by a 16-team postseason tournament. For the first time, MLB agreed to pay the players 100 percent of their pro-rated salaries, which had been an unwavering demand of the players. Under the proposal, the Players Association would have to waive its right to file an unfair labor practice grievance.

To be clear: no deal has been yet reached, and the Players Association would still prefer a regular season longer than the 60 games that is on the table -- the better to reclaim as much of their original pay as possible. But even with MLB's insistence that the season conclude by Sept. 27 (the original end of the season), scheduling some doubleheaders and eliminating a few off-days could get that total up to 66.



That number would allow a schedule in which teams would play their four divisional rivals 12 games each, with another 18 against teams from the corresponding division in the other league. (In the case of the Red Sox, that would mean four three-game series with the Yankees, Orioles, Rays and Blue Jays and either five or six games each against the Mets, Phillies, Pirates, Nationals and Marlins).

Just last weekend, after the Players Association, frustrated the lack of progress in talks, effectively invited Manfred and the owners to impose a 50-game schedule. By Monday and Tuesday, multiple players tweeted: "Just tell us when and where.''

But Manfred concerned that the owners would be leaving themselves open to a huge financial judgment with an implemented schedule, flew to Arizona instead Tuesday to take a last-ditch attempt at a negotiated settlement with Clark.

In a press release Wednesday afternoon, Manfred said the two men had constructed a "framework" which he and Clark "agreed could form the basis of an agreement.''

The goal would be to get a deal worked out by the end of the week, with an eye toward the start of spring training on June 29, to be followed three weeks later by the season.

That this could ultimately result in an agreement between the two sides is critical, since it not only would eliminate the potential for a lengthy legal battle down the line, but also incentivize the players into being cooperative partners in promoting the game's return.

Without that investment by the players, MLB would not have gotten the approval to stage an expanded postseason, a move which could create additional TV inventory, worth -- by some estimated -- an additional $250 million in rights fees. Under the proposal, a 16-team postseason would also be in place for the 2021 season, helping to make up for the revenue lost by the shortened season in 2020 and the absence of ticket-buying fans.

The players would also theoretically sign off on other measures, including a universal DH and a willingness to take part in other innovations designed to better market the game, such as wearing microphones for in-game sound.

Even if the players succeed in adding a half-dozen or so games to the regular season, it's a certainty that the schedule will feature less than half of the standard 162-game season. Owners are insistent the regular season conclude by the end of September, for fear that playing any deeper will result in a second wave of the coronavirus and the potential that the lucrative postseason could be cut short.

But surely, a shortened season of 60-something games is better than none at all.

Purists, too, will decry the expanded postseason and claim that the 16-team field -- MLB has never had more than 10 teams qualify for the postseason -- will further cheapen the season. And indeed, the game runs the risk of having, for the first time, a team with a losing record qualify for the playoffs. Under the format being proposed, the Texas Rangers would have qualified as the eighth team in the A.L. with a record of 78-84.

But it is not a typical season by any means, and the additional revenue that comes from auctioning off the additional inventory could help limit losses for teams in 2020 and lead to at least a slightly more robust free-agent market this winter.

Sure, it's not perfect. And again, it's not done yet.

But for the first time in a long while, Major League Baseball is in better shape today than it was yesterday.