Major League Baseball players and owners haven’t come to an agreement, and now the first few games of the 2022 season have been canceled.
LAKELAND, Fla. — You have every reason to be mad and disgusted at Major League Baseball — why in the world couldn’t they figure this out? You have every reason to sickened and infuriated that Opening Day has been delayed and games are being canceled — MLB just turned its back on its fans. You have every reason to come to the conclusion: MLB doesn’t care about you, the fans, the people who pay for tickets and watch games on TV and buy beer and munch on peanuts and pour your heart and soul into these teams. It is disgusting and depressing, how they mess with you. Opening Day has been lost. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announced Tuesday afternoon that the season’s first two series have been canceled, but in effect, the major league season has been delayed indefinitely, and there is little hope that this season will come back anytime soon. Which is infuriating. And incredibly sad. Because all MLB cares about is money. The players and owners have argued over all kinds of issues — free agency and service time and salary arbitration and an expanded playoffs and luxury taxes. They have talked about trying to eliminate tanking and service manipulation. But when you boil it all down, they are fighting over money. Over small percentages of the pie. Player pay has decreased for four consecutive years, according to the Associated Press, while the value of the teams has soared. So I understand what the players are fighting for. [ Detroit City FC offers free tickets to Detroit Tigers fans with Opening Day/season tickets] But you know what you don’t hear in all these negotiations: What would be best for the fans? How can we grow this game? How can we make it better? How can we make it a more enjoyable experience? How can it become the national pastime again? How can we get more inner city kids playing this amazing game? How can we be relevant? How can make it more fun to watch? Blame all this on whichever side you want. But realize this: baseball fans are the real victim here. “The concerns of our fans are at the very top of our consideration list,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said Tuesday. Yeah right. So what is being lost? They are losing the excitement that builds around Opening Day. They are losing eyeballs, in a day and age when everybody has so many more entertainment options, and baseball is taking another step toward becoming irrelevant.
