Minnesota Twins baseball will return in 2020, but it won’t be the positive, optimistic season that we all hoped for.
Major League Baseball and the MLB Player’s Association have been at odds over restarting the season ever since the COVID-19 pandemic began to slow down, and this has led to Minnesota Twins fans and baseball fans in general arguing over who is at fault.
In a sport that is struggling to retain fans (though overall income for the owners is going up), a suspended season doesn’t help matters. Fans who aren’t diehard baseball lovers won’t be drawn in by the boys of summer for warm days at the ballpark.
I asked Greg to write an article about the Twins playing later this season, because a part of me wants to believe that it will happen and that everything will be okay. A missed season right now would mean losing the final season of several key Twins pitchers, and that’s something no one wants.
With that in mind, negotiations between the MLB and the MLBPA have gotten worse. The MLB has made essentially the same offer multiple times, and the MLBPA has told the MLB they’re done negotiating and that the MLB should just plan a season. While this sounds good and likely means baseball will return soon, it also is a really bad omen for the future.
The MLB collective bargaining agreement (the deal that keeps the sides together) expires in 2021. The players won’t soon forget how poorly the owners have treated them during this incredibly tough time.
The owners are billionaires who stand to lose some money that they would make back during the playoffs. The players on the other hand have a large majority of players who make under a million dollars and are being asked to make less than their original prorated amount, meaning they’ll be making very little for owners who will make a lot.
I’ve never made a million dollars in one season. Nowhere close to it. The same goes for about 70% of the league. We just want to play. The fans deserve to watch baseball this year with everything going on. https://t.co/DZMMx7522C
— Tyler Heineman (@theineman13) June 14, 2020
This could lead to us missing baseball due to a strike in 2021, and possibly longer. And that means that because the owners wouldn’t help out players who need it far more than they do in 2020, we, the fans, lose out again.
Make no mistake about it. When baseball returns, I’ll be absolutely stoked. I will watch every game and never take the sport for granted again. I will also say however, that Minnesota Twins fans should be warned: there are dark days ahead for America’s game.