Dear diary, we have put forward several good ideas about what we saw at Yankee Stadium this fall. The season is still going, but the Yankees are not in it. None of the numerous suggestions for improvement will matter if there is not a season in 2027. There are wide expectations for whether next season might be cancelled. We may lose the season.
There is nothing like a work stoppage in baseball. There have been so many. In 1994, there was a strike. That one almost killed the sport, but the home run battle between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa in 1998 saved the sport and captured the nation’s attention. Diary, there is nothing like millionaires fighting with billionaires. What is the latest in the labor negotiations?
Diary of a Yankees Fan #7: Labor Strife
In the diary articles, we have made a bunch of suggestions for the Yankees to end their franchise-long 17-year World Series title drought. The season ended for the team by getting swept at Yankee Stadium in three games by the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays celebrated on the Yankee Stadium field for the second time in less than a month. We will start with the suggestions and go to the proposals of the owners and the players. They are far apart and are separated by one huge issue.
Diary Suggestions for the Yankees
After the suggestion, we have never seen anything like the shocking loss to the Tampa Bay Rays and stating that this was not the best team money can buy, we wrote about the opportunities the team has squandered. We then suggested some manager and general manager suggestions and free agent and trade acquisitions who could be had to improve the lineup. In the last diary, we suggested that the team needed to bring back the evil empire.
The Owners Current Position
Currently, the American and National League Championship Series are being played. This orgy of baseball makes a lot of money for the owners. That is what they want: to make money. That will not happen if there is a work stoppage in baseball. The most recent position by the owners was released by text on October 8. The new proposal has some odd suggestions.
In its latest proposal, the owners proposed reducing the regular season from 162 games to 154 games, and adding a standard off day to every week. The league also proposed extending the Division Series from a best-of-five to a best-of-seven, and allowing higher-seeded teams to select their opponents in the Wild Card Series and Division Series. That is strange, though it would preclude the odd playoff schedule we saw this year.
The sticker, the proposal that is not acceptable to the players, is a salary cap. As with every MLB proposal to date, the 154-game schedule and changes to the postseason format are contingent on the MLBPA accepting a salary car/floor system. The 154-game schedule will be popular with the players, but the salary cap will not. Ultimately, because the owners stand to lose money if games are not played, there will be defections from this group.
The Player Current Position
The Players have countered with a suggestion that shows just how far apart these two sides are. On September 2, there was a poll of the players. The upshot is they said no to the salary cap. The answers to the poll, diary, make it seem like we are in for a long work stoppage. They said they were united and unequivocally against the salary cap.
Conclusion: The Likelihood of a Work Stoppage Ruining Everything
It now looks like there will be a labor stoppage in baseball in 2027. The players and the owners are far apart, and the players absolutely do not want a salary cap, while the owners do. Expect to hear a lot about this issue in the months to come. The collective bargaining agreement in baseball ends on December 1. If there is not a new labor deal by then, there will be a work stoppage, and it could be a long one. If there is one, all of the suggestions we have made in these diaries will have to wait. Now that is something to write in a diary about.
Don't stop here
Every Score. Every Story. One Home.
Breaking sports, entertainment and news from across the Total Apex network, updated all day.
Get the Full Story →
