We’ve reached MLB owners’ deadline day. What will you do if there’s no MLB in 2022?

Sunday’s negotiating session between MLB owners and the MLB Players Association lasted more than six hours, into the early evening in Jupiter, Florida.

That’s good, right?

Not necessarily:

That... doesn’t sound good, with only one day left. Today, they are starting earlier in the day — at the time this article posted, 9 a.m. CT. That will, hopefully, give them enough time to hammer out a deal. Here’s the only bit of concrete information that’s available about Sunday’s session:

That’s sort of good, I guess, but my recollection is that MLB had previously agreed to eliminate draft pick compensation anyway, so this sounds like another “We’ll give you what we already gave you in return for something we want” offer. And “not far” from $214 million in the CBT rate is... just about where they were.

And so, we are here:

And here:

And here (and this is an outstanding thread which is on one page here):

So, that’s where we stand, less than 24 hours away from losing part — or even all — of the 2022 MLB season. One last thing I want to say about labor law — here is a really good (though long) thread about what good faith/bad faith actually is in labor negotiations. It’s also here if you want to read it all on one page.

How are people feeling about all this? Here’s a sample:

For me personally, baseball and the Cubs have defined my springs and summers for as long as I can remember. It’s been really my entire life since I started doing BCB and this work. I love the game. But I, too, could miss a year if it would straighten out some of the things that are out of whack. MLB has, in fact, tilted too much toward ownership and away from the people who actually play the game, the folks we come to see. Of course I’d like to go back to Sloan Park and Wrigley Field and see baseball games played by the best players in the world — but not until there’s an equitable labor agreement. Of note:

If there’s no Major League Baseball in 2022, there will still be Minor League Baseball. The Cubs’ four affiliates begin their seasons April 8. We’ll cover them here as we have always done, with Josh and Tim’s excellent coverage, but there could be more, especially if some of those games wind up televised. There is also college baseball, which has already begun, and independent league ball, which begins in mid-May. Interestingly enough, many indy league teams are located in or near MLB markets, including Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Kansas City, Dallas, Denver, Pittsburgh, Washington DC, the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City. This Wikipedia page has a handy map of where indy league teams are located. Those teams should do quite well attendance-wise if there’s no MLB this year.

Let’s hope MLB and the MLBPA can come to an agreement — today — and Major League Baseball can begin to be played. If not, and you love baseball, there’s plenty of other baseball that will be played this summer. What will you do if there’s no MLB? Tell us in the comments.

I made no sleuthing posts here over the weekend in order to focus on the labor talks. But today I think we need a distraction. There will be a sleuthing post up at 12 noon CT.

As always, as you know, we await developments. Let’s hope today’s developments bring us good news.