Here we are, just five days away from players reporting to Spring Training 2.0 at Citi Field.

As most of you know, Major League Baseball has announced the 2020 regular season will open in approximately one month, on July 23 or 24.

“Major League Baseball is thrilled to announce that the 2020 season is on the horizon,” league commissioner Rob Manfred said in a news release.

“We have provided the Players Association with a schedule to play 60 games and are excited to provide our great fans with Baseball again soon.”

Although official schedules have yet to be released, we do know how the breakdown looks for the New York Mets as follows:

• 10 games vs. Nationals
• 10 games vs. Phillies
• 10 games vs. Braves
• 10 games vs. Marlins
• 4 games vs. Yankees
• 4 games vs. Red Sox
• 4 games vs. Rays
• 4 games vs. Orioles
• 4 games vs. Blue Jays

Let’s be frank, baseball isn’t cut out to be played over a 60-game season. What was once a marathon is now a sprint and that means any and all things could happen.

The Washington Nationals were 27-33 after 60 games last season, six games under. 500, and they ended up winning the World Series.

There will be none of that in 2020. Instead teams will need to get out front of the season early and then stay there. One five-game losing streak and you could be done for the season.

I believe the regular season is going to have a postseason feel right from Opening Day and the intensity is going to be off the charts.

Everything will be magnified, every mistake, every error, every bad outing, every bad call. The pressure will be on.

Good fundamentals — or fundies as Keith Hernandez likes to call them — are going to be more important than ever. Good defensive players will be at a premium. (Can we get Juan Lagares back?)

Given this extremely abbreviated schedule coupled with all the new rule changes, it’s tough to predict how well or bad the Mets will do.

That said, I’m very high on our offense and I do believe this team will score runs in bunches. With Pete Alonso, Michael Conforto and Yoenis Cespedes in the middle of the lineup, there’ll be no shortage of power.

However, I’m not as confident on the other side of the ball. While the Mets are very fortunate to have Jacob deGrom and Marcus Stroman heading the rotation, I’m concerned about the rest of the makeup.

The bullpen, as usual, is wrought with questions and our closer Edwin Diaz has a lot to prove. The Mets were smart to add Dellin Betances as a fallback option.

It’s going to be a strange season to be sure, but I’m hoping it will be an exciting season as well. The 2020 season will be a baseball season like no other.

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Major League Baseball released a statement on Monday night saying the owners voted unanimously to proceed with 2020 season under the terms of the March 26th agreement.

In order to produce a schedule with a specific number of games, the owners are asking the Players Association to provied them with two pieces of information by 5:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday. The first is whether the players will be able to report to camp by July 1. Second is whether they will agree on the Operating Manual which contains the health and safety protocols.

According to multiple reports, the owners plan would be a 60-game season.

Earlier on Monday, the Players Association voted to reject the most recent proposal by Major League Baseball.

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Jeff Passan of ESPN has just tweeted out that the MLBPA has sent a counter-proposal to MLB’s latest offer that was presented on Wednesday. The new proposal from the players focuses on the following:

• 70-Game Season
• $50 million in playoff bonuses
• 50/50 split of new postseason TV revenues in 2021
• Forgiveness of salary advance for Tier I-III players
• Universal DH
• Mutual waiver of grievance

Wednesday’s proposal from the owners preferred 60 games among other issues such as universal DH, full prorated salary, expanded playoffs and at least a $25 million postseason pool.

As of this writing, MLB has not responded to the proposal.

Hopes were heightened on Wednesday when commissioner Rob Manfred met with player representative Tony Clark one-on one in Arizona. The meeting was said to be productive and later in the day, Manfred said in a release:

“We left that meeting with a jointly developed framework that we agreed could form the basis of an agreement and subject to conversations with our respective constituents. I summarized that framework numerous times in the meeting and sent Tony a written summary today. Consistent with our conversations yesterday, I am encouraging the Clubs to move forward and I trust Tony is doing the same.”

Talks continued late into the night on Wednesday, with some players cautioning baseball fans that what the owners offered was not a deal, but a proposal only. Many of the rank and file are clearly not in love with playing only 60 games. Hopefully the owners will settle on 70 or so and the proposed start date of either July 19 or July 20 can become a reality.

Passan, later on Thursday, tweeted this as a recap. The change is that postseason revenues are to be split:

The MLBPA’s proposal to MLB is for 70 games, sources tell ESPN, and includes a split of playoff revenues.

While the league is unlikely to accept this proposal, it’s close enough for optimism there will be a season — whether it’s via a deal or MLB setting a shorter schedule.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) June 18, 2020

Please stay tuned to MMO for full coverage of the negotiations.

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If the past few months have reminded us of anything, it’s the importance of finding common ground among our differences in order to productively work together. That’s basically the complete opposite of what Major League Baseball owners and the Players’ Association have done while attempting to reach an agreement on the 2020 regular season.

Among the four major professional sports, baseball has been impacted the most by COVID-19 simply because the season didn’t start before getting halted. The NFL obviously finished its season uninterrupted and while it was a bummer that the NBA and NHL also had to go on hiatus, they each played through most of their respective regular seasons before being forced into creatively finishing it.

So, right from the jump, baseball has been working from a unique position that none of the NFL, NBA, or NHL could truly understand.

What’s seen as an unfortunate series of events — although it pales in comparison to the real tragedies COVID has caused — should’ve also been viewed as an opportunity. Baseball hasn’t been America’s most popular sport for a while now thanks to the gridiron, and basketball is increasingly gaining marketshare. One of Rob Manfred’s charges since becoming commissioner is to engage younger generations in ways they’re not currently doing.

Obviously, that’s where all the pace-of-play initiatives have been coming from. Because, you know, if a nine-inning game ends 10 minutes sooner than it used to, people will start flocking to baseball more than ever before (insert sarcasm here).

With this time of quarantine, social distancing, and no live sports being played, what better opportunity than now for MLB to market its players and engage with fans in a way they haven’t done before? That’s why I thought the MLB The Show players’ tournament was a good idea — it humanized players in a way we as fans don’t get to see as often as we should.

It was subtle, but I loved watching Jeff McNeil give his puppy a celebratory scratch after hitting a home run with Michael Conforto (while wearing his “Puppy Power” shirt). We sometimes forget these incredibly talented athletes are people just like us, they’re bored during quarantine just like us, and they’re filling the void with some video games, just like many of us.

Any kind of small progress made with this initiative was erased as negotiations between the owners and players have dragged on for way too long. And it doesn’t even matter whether you side with the owners or the players (I’m definitely with the players, though) — any feeling of progress doesn’t seem to be there, despite Manfred emphatically proclaiming we’ll have baseball this year.

I like taking an optimistic approach, too, but they don’t have a choice, right? Not having a season because of failed negotiations would be catastrophic.

Either way, it’s hard to feel so sure of it all when so much mud slinging has taken place publicly. While I’ve been following MLB’s return-to-play negotiations the closest, I also haven’t heard or seen any kind of animosity between owners/the league and its players in other pro sports. Just baseball. That’s not going to draw in new fans, especially when a common comparison getting thrown around right now on Twitter is the labor strife the sport went through in the mid-1990s.

The mere thought of having regular season baseball return in time for July 4th gave me goosebumps. There’s nothing more American than baseball on Independence Day, am I right? That idea is out the window now, though, because nobody can seem to get out of their own way.

If MLB had a plan in place prior to the first-year player draft beginning Wednesday night, this particular event could’ve been marketed as the kickoff to baseball season instead of an afterthought, like it generally is to casual fans. There’s still nothing else going on in the sports world (for the most part), giving MLB a captive audience and possibly a number of people who have no choice but to give it a try because they’re bored.

The league has never done a great job in marketing the draft, and with the sole focus on it this week, there was an opportunity to also set the tone for future years. They’re reportedly expecting a bump in ratings, but I’ll side with Brett Taylor of Bleacher Nation in the below tweet when it comes to that subject:

Prediction that will later be impossible to verify but I'll stand by it?

The ratings will be half what they would have been if a deal were in place to return to baseball and the hype were building. https://t.co/0Bz5l9iIhf

— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) June 10, 2020

This stoppage in play should’ve been a chance for baseball to get creative by bringing the human side of its superstars into the conversation more and appeal to the types of fans they’d like to attract more of moving forward. Instead of doing that, newswires have been dominated with the bad blood being caused in negotiations and how Manfred may have to unilaterally institute a short season.

Forcing hitters to always keep one foot in the batter’s box and eliminating the four pitches needed to complete an intentional walk aren’t going to bring in the younger generation of fans they want to hook. Sure, it’ll shave off a few minutes on the total time of games, but does it really matter? The game itself won’t change enough to attract a certain demographic. Getting creative in other ways is what’s going to get previously uninterested people to suddenly be intrigued.

MLB has owned the sports narrative throughout this spring. Unfortunately, they’ve done so for all the wrong reasons and wasted a unique opportunity to make progress toward its stated goal of growing interest in such a beautiful game.

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According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the NBA Board of Governors have voted to approve a 22-team format to resume the 2019-2020 National Basketball Association season. He reports that it was a 29-1 vote in favor of the season returning.

The NBAPA’s team representatives will hold a conference call on Friday to approve the 22-team plan to restart the season.

There will be an eight-game regular season followed by play-in tournaments if necessary. The Hawks, Cavaliers, Pistons, Knicks, Bulls, Hornets, Warriors and Timberwolves will not play when action resumes.

The NBA hopes to re-start the season on July 31 and open the 2020-2021 season on December 1.

The National Hockey League announced last week that they are planning to return to play with a 24-team playoff tournament.

Major League Soccer and its players union reached an agreement on Wednesday that approves play to resume next month with a tournament in Orlando at the ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex.

Major League Baseball and the Players Association continue negotiations on how they would put together a 2020 season.

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In light of Major League Baseball’s economic proposal presented Tuesday afternoon to the Players Association, pay cuts for players is a topic weighing heavily on everyone’s mind as they await the start of a shortened season. After the COVID-19 outbreak in early March put a stop to baseball, players were due to receive their full per-game salaries in a shortened season in an agreement between the MLB and the MLBPA.

According to reports from Jesse Rogers and Jeff Passan, both of ESPN, the league’s latest proposal would leave baseball’s highest-paid players to see pay cuts of more than 60%. Players who make $35 million would be expected to cash in at $7.84 million with the proposal. While lower-paid players would take lesser cuts from the full prorated shares, the disparity in pay is presenting a major issue for players and the union.

Potential salary cuts in MLB plan, sources tell @JesseRogersESPN and me:

Full-year Proposal

$563.5K $262K
$1M $434K
$2M $736K
$5M $1.64M
$10M $2.95M
$15M $4.05M
$20M $5.15M
$25M $6.05M
$30M $6.95M
$35M $7.84M

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) May 26, 2020

If players were to receive an 82-game prorated salary, this would amount to almost twice the proposed salary option for higher paid players. With 65% of all MLB players making less than $1 million, the goal was to protect the lowest-paid players and allow them to have lesser cuts on prorated shares. In this case, a player who makes the MLB-minimum of $563,500 would earn $262,000 in the 2020 season, whereas a player at $17.7 million for his prorated shares would make $7.84 million.

With this being the first proposal from the league, there are likely to be many conversations and adjustments, especially keeping in mind the disappointment among players after seeing the drastic pay cuts. All players would be expected to face a pay cut, which is making it that much more difficult to get the season going.

With the risks of the coronavirus looming, and especially putting players at an increased risk of contracting the virus when playing, the union and players are unlikely to take this as an end-all-be-all deal.

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According to Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal, a positive Covid-19 test would not shutdown Major League Baseball, under the current proposal.

Diamond also notes that the proposal from Major League Baseball to the Players Association would include all team personnel getting tested multiple times during a week with results within 24 hours.

The owners approved the proposal earlier this week and started negotiation with the Players Association on Tuesday about the 2020 season.

Part of the owners’ proposal includes an 82-game season, 30-man active rosters (with 20-player taxi squad), and 50-50 revenue split for players and owners.

One key sticking point in negotiations continues to be the owners wanting the players to take a pay reduction. The players and owners agreed to a prorated salary back in March.

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New York Mets pitcher Jenrry Mejia made his second appearance today in the Dominic Summer League as he hopes to work his way back to the major leagues.

The 28-year-old Mejia threw three scoreless innings today allowing only one hit and one walk while striking out seven for the DSL Mets1 squad. He now has seven scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts in two DSL starts.

On July 6, it was announced by MLB commissioner Robert Manfred that Mejia was granted a conditional reinstatement from his lifetime ban. He received the ban in 2016 following his third positive test for performance enhancing drugs.

If Mejia complies with certain conditions established by the commissioner, Mejia and the Players Association, Mejia will be reinstated from the Restricted List and will be eligible to resume all baseball activities beginning with the 2019 Spring Training.

Mejia has a 3.68 ERA, 1.48 WHIP and 28 saves in 183 career innings with the Mets.

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Major League Baseball commissioner Robert Manfred announced on Friday afternoon that New York Mets right-handed reliever Jenrry Mejia has been granted a conditional reinstatement from his lifetime ban.

Mejia, 28, was given a lifetime ban back in 2016 after his third positive test for performance enhancing drugs. He has a 2.68 ERA, 1.48 WHIP and 28 saves in 183 career innings with the Mets.

Mejia is allowed to resume participation in non-public workout at Mets’ facilities following the 2018 All-Star break and will be eligible for a rehab assignment with a Mets affiliate in mid-August.

Provided that Mejia complies with certain conditions established by the Office of the Commissioner and agreed to by Mejia and the Players Association, Mejia will be reinstated from the Restricted List and will be eligible to resume all baseball activities beginning with 2019 Spring Training.

Manfred recently met with Mejia in New York, during so Jenrry expressed regret for his poor choices and released this statement today.

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Bad news for all you dyed in the wool baseball purists out there, according to what sources are telling Howard Bryant of ESPN the Magazine, effective for the 2017 season, Major League Baseball will switch to an electronic dugout signal for Intentional Walks rather than the traditional four ball pitchout.

The change in the intentional-walk rule was proposed by MLB to the Players Association earlier in the year and it will end the long-standing practice of requiring the pitcher to toss four soft pitches outside the strike zone to his catcher.

Now, a team could just signify it wants to issue an intentional walk by activating an electronic dugout signal that would send the hitter directly to first base.

Sad… No but seriously, this will do absolutely nothing to shorten the length of games. Intentional walks were never the problem.

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