M.L.B.’s proposal had called for players to receive their full 162-game pay if they played all 154 games, said people familiar with the negotiations who weren’t authorized to speak publicly because no announcements had been made.
The offer also codified Manfred’s rights to cancel or suspend games based on certain conditions, like government or travel restrictions, or if he, after consulting with medical experts and the union, believed that staging games would pose an “unreasonable” health and safety risk.
Players indicated concern that this could have led to fewer than 154 games, and that a compressed schedule with fewer days off could complicate making up contests postponed because of virus cases. But last year, even with similar powers given to him by a March agreement between the sides, Manfred didn’t suspend the season, despite outbreaks on the St. Louis Cardinals and the Miami Marlins. All but two teams — Detroit and St. Louis — played 60 games, using seven-inning doubleheaders to squeeze in some of them. The new practice was generally well received.
The union, which had already rejected expanding the playoffs, believed it deserved more than the playoff money pool that M.L.B. offered on Friday. It also feared that allowing more teams into the postseason would cheapen the regular season, de-emphasizing winning. Rosters, though, are mostly set, and the majority of top free-agent players have already signed with teams.
Last year, M.L.B. pushed to have the lucrative postseason wrapped up by the end of October to avoid another wave of coronavirus infections and a cluttered television sports schedule in November. Pushing back the 2021 playoffs, even a week into early November, would need approval from the networks that pay M.L.B. for the right to broadcast its games.
A deal could still be reached. Even though team owners and players never reached agreement on a schedule for the 2020 season, they agreed on opening day to a 16-team expanded postseason, which allowed them to tap into more broadcast revenue. In order to do that again, though, the sides would need to find increasingly fleeting common ground.
