Ducksnort

It would be such a cubs and espn move to strip this national opportunity from the White Sox and give it to the Cubs...

Obviously the virus is very dangerous because it is invisible and can spread very easily from person to person. But this whole thing has led me to think about other dangers in the sport that could also potentially cause life-altering or life-ending results, that aren't paid as much attention to. I think the most dangerous thing in baseball is quite literally the ball itself. We've seen what the ball can do when it moves fast. A minor league (coach I believe?) was killed while being struck in the head in the dugout a few years ago. That led to 1st and 3rd base coaches required to wear helmets. We saw a little girl in the stands in Houston last year get a hard liner to the head, causing permanent brain damage. As a result, netting is being put up from foul pole to foul pole all across MLB parks. Warning tracks were created so outfielders can better anticipate the wall and lessen the chance of breaking something (unless you're Adam Eaton). No more hard slides into 2nd base or bowling over the catcher at homeplate. How can we better anticipate these kinds of things in the game to protect players before injuries or (God-forbid) death, force a decision to be made? I for one think a discussion needs to be had about pitchers starting to wear helmets and/or facemasks on the mound. Balls are being pitched faster, resulting in harder hit balls. We've all seen a couple scares already with pitchers getting hit in the head with liners in recent years.

Would it be a fight between NBCSC and Marquee with the Cubs/Sox games this year? Or would it depend on who the home team is?

IDK but they better refund most of what I paid for a full season through MLB.TV

I was being sarcastic. Obviously they wouldn't seat me, or any other fan, next to a ball player.

Um, I'm pretty sure if they put me 5 seats away from Jose Abreu neither he nor I would get the covid. Just sayin.

However it plays out this season, I will be very interested to see how it affects the game in the seasons to come as changes are made.

So in a matter of a little over 2 hours, this dude tweets, "Manfred will announce a schedule," "wait, no he's not, more dicking around needs to happen first," "just kidding, he announced it." What in the hell?

What a colossal nightmare. I'm not even excited for this. Maybe I will as it gets closer, but this just means more waiting.

Apparently the two sides are making "final efforts" to negotiate a deal. Manfred expected to be on tv soon...possibly indicating an "agreement" is near. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/06/mlb-mlbpa-making-final-negotiation-effort.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

Because they're stubborn AF. That's what this boils down to. They want to win and won't concede. Meeting pushed to 5 pm.

Holy...so do you think the Sox would allow fans if the league permitted it?

This season is f***ed

Thought it was yesterday

If the players turn this down (which looks like that's what's gonna happen) I bet the season is cancelled over the owners not wanting to go to court, and are probably sick of dicking around with this whole thing.

Yep. What a shame. All about the $$$$$

Apparently MLB will not counter the latest proposal by the players. MLBPA supposed to vote on the latest 60 game proposal from owners today.

Yes, I am extremely proud of the team I root for, for these reasons

I don't disagree with you. All I'm saying is, if the players and owners didn't think of these things before they started squabbling about money, and all of a sudden those kinds of things related to the virus starts happening and it takes them by surprise, then there is some serious, serious incompetent leadership going on all over the sport. We knew in the beginning what the risks were. The risks were very likely to happen. They are beginning to happen. They will happen. It doesn't seem to be stopping the season from happening, and it shouldn't be coming as a surprise to anyone. I'm going off the premise that the union and owners created a plan that details what happens when player(s) get it (maybe it is foolish of me to assume that), and they decided to go ahead with negotiations for a season. If they didn't plan for it, then why the hell have they been playing this money game for the last few months?

Well, the players obviously want to take the risk, otherwise I think the season would be cancelled had the majority of them not want to risk it. I would imagine the players association would have had those conversations about various "what-if" scenarios. So any player that is going to play, is willingly taking that risk of the first scenario you laid out. They can sit out if they want, and I would imagine the coaches who don't want to risk it would as well. I don't think anyone would be penalized for it, other than no pay. And as for the 2nd scenario, I suppose that could happen, but if it hasn't happened by the time the postseason comes around, it probably won't, as those guys have been breathing the same air for 2 months already.

Is this honestly a suprise though? I would hope when they finalize their deal, they put a plan in place for these things. To not plan for players to get the virus is foolish. It's going to happen. I don't see how it's changed much from when negotiations started back in March in regards to the virus, when things were much, much worse and not much was known about it.

Do you think Manfred zoom calls all 30 owners at once? Can you imagine what that would be like?

Rumors flooding in now...it's all just speculative at this point.

A lot of teams are already seeking mediocrity with rebuilding, although for long-term gain. I don't see much of a difference here. Makes fans more interested. Maybe not include half of each league, but 12 or 14 teams total would be good for me.

This is the most professional thing I've seen come out of this entire debacle. Why all the bullshit had to happen first is beyond me