Padres: Time for MLB and MLBPA to meet in the middle

After the MLBPA responded with a proposal on Sunday evening, the owners countered on Monday. Are we close to Padres baseball?

On Sunday evening, the MLBPA responded with an enticing proposal that included a 114-game schedule and $100 million in deferred salaries if the season were to be cut short or canceled altogether. So are we close to Padres baseball?

The owners were quick to respond on Monday, indicating they prefer to stick to a shorter schedule – 50 games to be exact – but the players would get 100 percent of their prorated salaries. Money has been the major sticking point for the players, and the number of games played has been met with reluctance by the owners.

Now that the players are getting their share, it’s time for both sides to meet in the middle. Let’s call it an 82-game season. The league year could still begin on June 30, with the next three weeks or so being Spring Training 2.0.

One thing has always remained constant. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the divisions will be temporarily realigned, so that travel for ball clubs is generally regionalized. So the Padres would be playing AL West opponents in addition to their regularly-scheduled NL West foes.

The fact that the owners are willing to give the players their money is huge. The latter are the ones taking all the risk here, potentially exposing themselves to this outbreak. I was thrilled with the proposal they presented on Sunday evening because it was the most realistic one we had seen.

The two previous originating from the owners were obviously non-starters and weren’t close to an agreement based on a couple of modifications. On Sunday, I figured the owners would counter, but to see the two sides so close is amazing.

In a time that we need sports to unite us together again, I hope the two sides can come to a resolution on the number of games. Let’s get some normalcy back in our lives, starting with Padres baseball on the television.