It was one of those things that made you say: “Yeah, right. I’ll believe it when I see it,” – beginning the 2022 regular MLB season on time on March 31.

On Thursday afternoon, following a marathon negotiations session between MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and MLB Players Association Chief Tony Clark that lasted a whopping 15 minutes, USA Today‘s (subscription required) Bob Nightengale posted this (via Yahoo Sports):

“Major League Baseball negotiators walked out of Thursday’s bargaining session with the players union after only 15 minutes, angry over the union’s latest proposal, leaving the scheduled start of the regular season in serious jeopardy. MLB has informed the players union that a deal must struck to end the lockout by Feb. 28 to preserve the start of the regular season on March 31, but with the two sides remaining far apart, any lingering optimism is rapidly waning.“

That “rapidly waning” part, I absolutely believe. That “start of the regular season on March 31” part, barring a significant and immediate increase in the frequency of negotiations (and a significant change in attitude by both sides), I absolutely do not.

But wait! There’s more…

Sure enough, late Friday morning, this was posted on Twitter by MLB Trade Rumors:

The silver lining to all of this – if you can even call it that – is that if the 2022 MLB regular season does not begin on time, 2022 minor league teams and college teams will once again (probably) see a significant increase in attendance and popularity … just as they did during the last MLB lockout in 1990, and the last MLB players strike in 1994-95.

Come on, guys. Do the right thing here.

Play Ball!

  *  *  *  *  *  *