On Monday , May 11, the sports world recieved a little bit of hope as Major League Baseball proposed a plan for a 82-game season starting in early July with an expanded playoff system, most likely without fans to begin with. Teams would hold a spring training like camp for 2-3 weeks in mid-June at either the teams regular spring training locations or at their home ballparks depending on state regulations. Since the release of the proposal, owners have voted and approved the plans and have moved talks to the players association to discuss salary. A 7-hour long video conference was held between the two, but no deal was reached. This deal will have it’s issues since owners feel that with a season half the length of its normal season, calls for player salaries to be cut in half and that owners and players receive a 50-50 cut of the revenue from this short season. 

Even with this being good news for the fans, players do not seem to be on the same page as 2018 Cy Young award winner and Tampa Bay Rays ace Blake Snell recently voiced his opinion on the matter saying he will not play this season for a reduced salary, especially because the risk of contracting the coronavirus is “just not worth it.” Snell was later backed up on Twitter by Bryce Harper who went on to say “He ain’t lying. He’s right,” Harper said. “Hey, he’s speaking the truth, bro. I ain’t mad at him. Somebody’s gotta say it. At least he manned up and said it.” 

Rob Manfred has explained there will be testing, contact tracking, emphasizes he prioritizes the health of players and employees, and is submitting a document that goes through every logistical issue that could come up but even with all of this, a season even without fans needs a lot of work to come into commission. 

This proposal still brings hope to sports fans everywhere showing that there is a light at the end of this tunnel and at some point, sports will return. As the experts still work to figure out the details, this news was still the closest thing to good news Americans have heard for a while and as we keep taking baby steps to players being back on that field, one thing is for sure. Baseball, and sports in all, will return.