According to the printable Giants schedule (available on the website) below, the Giants were expected to play fifty-two series in 2022. Take a look:
The owners (and their hired gun, Mr. Disinterested) just lopped off 3.85% (2/52) of the season. They have no reason to do this other than the usual one which is "what we can't completely control we will deliberately fuck up."
It's clear that MLB had no intention of negotiating in good faith. The lockout was just the opening salvo in a full-fledged assault on the game. The billionaires have shown us that they are willing to break their toys just so no one else can play with them.
This is a disaster. People are going to walk away from baseball this time and not come back. It's not 1995. The game no longer has the pull on the public consciousness that it once did. Dollars are going to flow to other places. Baseball will become like opera, something that relies on patronage and federal arts funding in order to exist (note: I like opera, this is not a dig). Perhaps the unholy alliance of MLB and the betting industry will make up a new revenue stream and cover the losses from fan defection.
--M.C.
6 comments:
I agree - this IS a disaster. And, one that MLB can ill afford.
There was an embarrassing amount of fanfare made, both at PSU, when I left, & here at UCSF, when I joined, about how I'd finally get to see more Giants' Games. Then:
- 2020 - no in-person Games.
- 2021 - finally felt good enough about COVID to start going in July.
- 2022 - who the hell knows?
Well put, Mark.
Now they say April 14th. That's two more series cancelled.
MLB wants to say "postponed" because there is talk of games being made up on off-days and with double-headers and etc. Sounds stupid to me. Squeezing in more games will just make more roster craziness and increase injury opportunities. A shortened season would be better. Right now 12 games have been lopped off.
You can find Rob Manfred's statement on MLBTradeRumors, and probably elsewhere. However, allow me to do some minor editing, just to statement have at least a semblance of truth:
In a last-ditch to prove that both a 162-game season, and in fact, the sport of baseball itself, is utterly without interest to us, the billionaire owners, except to squeeze out the maximum amount of revenue for us, this week we have made proposals that we knew would never be accepted by the MLBPA. The Clubs waited as long as possible before even agreeing to meet with the MLBPA. On the key economic issues that have posed stumbling blocks, the Clubs proposed to, basically, give us, the billionaire owners, a larger piece of the cash cow that major league baseball has become. Predictably, after our second late-night bargaining session in a week, we remain without a deal.
Because of the logistical realities of the calendar, another two series are being removed from the schedule, meaning that Opening Day is postponed until April 14th. We have not made any real effort to reach an agreement and don't intend to do so until the players and our fans realize that we, the billionaire owners, care nothing for either. I am absolutely delighted by this situation’s continued impact on our game and all those who are a part of it, especially our loyal fans.
We have the utmost absolutely no respect for our players and never have.
(This looks better in strikethrough - underline, but I don't know how to put that in comments.)
It's all about the anti-trust exemption. MLB has a Congressionally-protected monopoly. Time for that to end.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/10/sports/baseball/mlb-lockout-ends.html
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