MLBPA reportedly seeking $500 million from MLB over 60-game season
The Major League Baseball Players Association is still frustrated over playing a 60-game season in 2020. The MLBPA reportedly filed a grievance against the league seeking $500 million in damages, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
The grievance argues the league did not act in good faith when negotiating the length of the regular season in 2020. When the 2020 regular season was put on hold last March, the players and league agreed that players would receive prorated salaries depending on how many games were played in 2020.
As those negotiations dragged on, the league and its owners asked players to take less money per game. The players did not budge, eventually leaving it to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred to set the number of games that would be played during the 2020 regular season. Manfred decided on 60 games, and later admitted the league and its owners never intended to play more than that.
Because of that, the players felt MLB wasn't honest in its negotiations over the length of the regular season. The MLBPA grievance does not specify how long of a regular season the players wanted in 2020, but the $500 million figure would cover roughly 20-25 more games, according to Sherman.
MLB has filed a counter-grievance against the MLBPA. The league has asked that the grievances be expedited so that the issue can get solved before the collective-bargaining agreement expires in December.
MLB, MLBPA feuding could lead to a work stoppage
If the grievances are unresolved by then, that could present issues for CBA negotiations, possibly leading to a work stoppage or delaying the 2022 season. Labor talks are already expected to be contentious.
Players are frustrated over more than just the 2020 regular season. There's anger over glacial free agent markets and service-time manipulation, among many other issues.
April offered some hope that a strike could be avoided, as the MLBPA and the league met to discuss a new CBA. The grievances suggest the relationship between the league and its players is as frosty as ever, and that future negotiations could turn ugly.
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