Jaillet’s Journal: In a changing sports world, MLB still doesn’t get it

The MLB needs to get it together.

I am not hopeful for baseball the season. just Saturday, it was reported that a July 4 start for the 2020 MLB season is a near impossibility. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic noted that preparation time would make starting the season by July 4 difficult.

If negotiations were to resume and a deal was to be reached, players would need 10 days to prepare their facilities according to medical protocol. Players would also need time to report for spring training, especially those from foreign countries.

To me, this sounds like baseball is not returning anytime soon. That may be a tough pill to swallow for some people. Especially for concession workers and people who work at the ballpark, I feel terribly sorry for them. However, I do not feel sorry for the owners or the players.

The optics for the MLB don’t look good here. You could definitely pick a side. You could blame the owners for being greedy, and side with the players from wanting to get their money’s worth. I don’t blame you for feeling that way.

You could side with the owners for wanting their money, and the players for being greedy. Again, I don’t blame you for feeling that way either.

Nevertheless, the fact that millionaires and billionaires are quarreling about money, especially right now makes for poor optics. There are so many people struggling to just make ends meet right now. In a sport that has already struggled due to length of games and the cost of attending one, they are not doing themselves any favors.

I said it as soon as reports of tension between the players and owners came out. Major League Baseball is shooting themselves in the foot. They have an opportunity to capture the fans thirst for sports once again, and they are blowing it.

It’s not like Major League Baseball has an opportunity to redeem themselves while other sports are in the offseason. Football is going to be coming back, and basketball will follow soon.

The NBA calendar in particular has it so there will be basketball year-round. June 30 is when training camps will begin. July 31 is when the 2019-20 season will restart. Game seven of the NBA finals, if necessary, will be October 12. In between October 12 and December 1 the NBA draft in the start of free agency will take place.

There are basically going to be sports year-round. I’m a fan of all three of the sports that are coming back. There will be ways that I can occupy my time sports-wise. Baseball can take a backseat.

Between the prices of games, the length of games, and the fact that baseball has stayed the same in an ever-changing sports world, none of these things work in their favor.

Cue the Pat Fitzgerald rant of how kids are buried in their phones nowadays and don’t care about sports. If I sound like that, so be it. Baseball hasn’t changed, and it’s killing the game.

Baseball will be buried in the proverbial sports calendar. That’s not a good thing for the sport or the fans that it has. Then again, I don’t feel bad for the league.

I’m all set with baseball for now. Baseball is my favorite sport as a kid, so it saddens me to say that.

Unlike Major League Baseball, my tastes have changed.