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I'm playing them in MLB The Show 20 and Cruz has 37 homeruns after the first 22 games. I may have to move off of easy mode eventually....

50 games is a joke. 114 is not realistic. Play an 80 game schedule starting in early July. It's what the calendar and common sense suggests. Stop the bickering.

That's false, even according to the league itself. Per USA Today: "MLB said 2019 revenue was 39% local gate and other in-park sources, followed by 25% central revenue, 22% local media, 11% sponsorship and 4% other." So, in-game revenue already accounted for solidly under half of the total. It is all but certain that those revenue streams outside of in-game would increase with heightened TV viewership, more streaming subscriptions, etc. When you start by basically arguing "I know this is true regardless of contrary evidence" I'm not sure how to address the rest of your comment.

I dont need to see any "books" to understand that ownership's revenue, with zero in-stadium revenue, will not be half of what it would be with fans on the stands. So I dont need "books" to know that paying players half their salaries is not feasible for ownership. I also dont need "books" to know that ALL the financial risk is on the ownership side. I know that I want MLB to return, and that it will be ownership who makes that happen, not the players. Neither side caused the pandemic. But only one side--the players--are preventing the resumption of play. Screw them. I hope this causes the eventual collapse of the MLBPA. Would serve them right.

It looks like the owners understand that there is only so much revenue that will be generated in a season, seems they should share that projection and center the payroll negotiations around it. Game revenue from fans in the stands is not trivial but it seems the players don’t understand or are simply unwilling to factor it in given their latest proposal. Player’s can’t expect the owners to willingly lose tens of millions of dollars, they have lost sight of the fact that there is real economic risk to operate a league. Oh and they should all agree that whatever that broadcast revenue is should be shared equally between the teams playing each game. If the big market teams don’t like this they should just schedule games only among themselves and see how that goes. Maybe this goat rope of a season will finally spark the much needed dialogue among all of the stakeholders to come up with a workable plan that is equitable for all stakeholders. I really like baseball but I’ve grown almost despondent over the lack of equity in the league with big and small market teams. No other professional league is this stupid about competitive play, It makes no sense.

A happy medium between what the owners and players have proposed and counter-proposed would be an 80-ish game season. I'm a diehard baseball fan and I will survive, even if there is not a season this year. The fans IMO that MLB has the greatest risk of losing are those fringe fans, who will look for and find another outlet for their sports needs, if one is provided. Let's get together play ball!

All sports leagues will have to have a plan to continue on even if a player test positive. Otherwise there's no point in starting. I believe they all do. It's why there will be expanded rosters etc.

Thanks for writing this. I think you echo the feelings of a lot of fans. Personally, I do want to see a baseball season but I have hard time seeing a solution. The players and league are just too far apart. The logistics are so tough. The timeline is starting to crunch. I continue to feel that the best bet is some sort of specialized tournament (a la WBC). Players who want to opt in are able to, others can opt out but still earn something. Maybe they even draft new teams depending on how much participation there is. Use the opportunity to test new technologies, innovations and rule changes. Ump-less games with electronic strike zones? Why not, it's safer. Interactive broadcasts, players mic'ed up in-game... there are a lot of things MLB could try out, many of which might be premium features they could use to drive more revenue.

"David Petersen couldn't properly call a strike if his life depended on it." -- Enrico Pallazzo, Major League umpire

Thank you writing this piece Nash. It's fantastic. What do you mean "they are the ones trying to get a season going"? Players have pushed openly to return to play, made their own proposals, and made numerous concessions. Here's a plain and simple question for the "I'm with the owners" crowd: why don't they just open their books? We know exactly how much the players make which is what makes it so easy to paint them as bad guys. There are a number of PR elements at play designed to shape perceptions like the one you express here.