The 2022 MLB season is going to be delayed, and it’s the owners’ fault

Late Monday, after a marathon bargaining session between MLB owners and the MLB Players Association that went till 2:30 a.m. ET, there was brave talk of optimism, that there could be a deal before MLB’s stated deadline of 5 p.m. ET Tuesday.

That’s not going to happen, and I want to make it clear to everyone here that not only is this all on ownership, but even the “optimism” of Monday was a ploy by owners to try to make themselves look like the good guys and then blame players if a deal failed.

There isn’t going to be a deal, not now. Here are some details:

Now, if you don’t believe me regarding the owners being at fault here, I’m going to go ahead and post another tweet. Yes, I get it, some of you don’t care for tweets filling up these articles, but this one sums up the last three months quite well:

There is no denying that’s exactly what happened. Any attempt to spin otherwise is false. It does appear that MLB used some national writers late last night to push the idea that a deal was close, then use that “tone has changed” to try to blame players. Like so:

And if you don’t believe writers on that, how about this directly from Giants pitcher Alex Wood?

And White Sox catcher James McCann:

Here is MLB’s “last, best offer”:

While some of this was good on MLB’s part, some of the numbers — particularly in the bonus pool and on CBT thresholds — were far from what the MLBPA wanted. In fact, if MLB had accepted the players’ final offer, it would have been a big win for owners. Instead, they stuck to their guns. Remember that there are going to be — or possibly delayed now — announcements of TV deals from NBC and/or Apple for midweek broadcasts that could add up to $350 million per year for MLB. Revenue is spiking throughout baseball and all owners are saying is, “We want to keep it.”

Don’t believe me? Here’s a chart that should show you:

Regarding “last, best offer,” here is something you need to know:

In the end, that’s what eventually ended the strike in 1995. Owners implemented an offer and declared an impasse. Players then went to court — I’m simplifying here, here are more details — and eventually an order by Judge Sonya Sotomayor (now a Supreme Court justice) ended the strike at the end of March 1995.

This didn’t have to happen. Baseball is flush with money. Owners could have shared more. They chose not to. We the fans are the losers, and where this goes, I am honestly not sure. It’s going to take me some time to process all of this and put together an honest opinion, and that might take till tomorrow. Again, sorry for all the tweets but that puts the most accurate information in front of you with some immediacy.

Commissioner Rob Manfred is scheduled to have a news conference at 4 p.m. CT, shortly after this article is posted. I assume at that time there will be details on game cancellations. I’ll post another article when there’s more information.

Today is a sad day for baseball.