It Has Begun

The writing has been on the wall for some time now, but it has finally happened. For the first time since 1990 we have a lockout between the Major League Baseball Owners and Players Association. Its the 4th time in the history of the game we have had something like this happen, and the first work stoppage since the 1994 season. Still a lot of time to make sure we don't lose games, but between now and then, there's still a lot to be worked out.

This is the 9th work stoppage, 4th lockout (first since 1990) that baseball has had. And guess what? A lot of it was over money. The players wanted a higher salary tax threshold, among other things. Owners want expanded playoffs, which I don't think the players are in favor of. Oh there's more. The Owners want a universal DH (which I'm actually in favor of). Owners have also been noted of looking for a hard salary cap floor of $100 million

Players wanted to rid of the concept of "Tanking", which is what they view as owners choosing not to sign good talented players in hopes of having a bad year and getting higher draft picks in the future. Players union has also gone on record of disapproving of a salary cap.

So to nobody's surprise, we have ourselves a lockout. And this is only the scratching of the surface of the issues between the players union and the owners. I'm sure there's a lot deeper issues here between the two sides then we are seeing.

Now the big question is what does this all mean for next season?

Well it means that we have about 70 or so days to figure this out. Spring training games were set to start at the end of February when camp us supposed to open. Opening day is still slated on March 31st. That all means nothing if a new deal can't be reached by early February. Why then? Because there's still a  lot of players sitting on the free agent market. No player movement can be made during lockout. Players can still be in discussions, but nobody can be signed or moved via trade till this lockout ends.

As far as games go, Baseball doesn't want to have another short year. Yes I know it was out of their hands in 2020, but this one is in their control and they need to get it figured out. After the 1994 strike, it took till the 1998 home run race to get fans back to the ballparks because it left a sour taste in fans mouths. Baseball seems to be trending that same way now with this lockout unless they get it figured out soon.