I am certainly with you in regards to the frustration I feel that the major players in the baseball universe are completely blowing it. However, I don't agree with all of your premises. I think this season absolutely can be legitimate if they're playing a significant (i.e. 50 games or longer) season using the rules of baseball as they have been established. I don't think a shorter season or lack of fans de-legitimizes it. However, I'm cool if they get creative, but only within reason. And that includes giving each team an equal shot at making it to the championship. Why should I, as an Angels fan, want to sign up for this? Oakland and Houston automatically advance while my team has a 1 in 7 shot? No thank you. That would be a huge mistake.
Cute idea, but the owners have never had any intention of having a season. I believe they decided not to have one once it became a reality that they would have to do it without fans. They then started a daily propaganda deluge about the players taking less money. (Than the cut they had already agreed to) This entire thing has been nothing more than a PR blitz to have fans blame the players as much, if not more, than the owners.
They are getting what they already decided they wanted, and shifting the blame, as fans lump the owners and the players into one group. Reading comments in articles, fans generally blame the players a bit more than the owners, due to false equivalence looking up from the bottom at how much money they make, and a bit of innate jealousy of players. ("They get to play a game for a living, I would do that for free" Note: No you wouldn't)
It has been a brilliant strategy. They get what they want. They place a higher amount of blame on the players and place some of those on the bottom in financial straits (perhaps more likely to make concessions) ahead of the 2021 CBA negotiations.
Most drank the Koolaid they were serving in a gulp and asked for more.
Joe - love this idea. Although the issue is the $ the players get, working that out. The agreement is to pay prorated for regular season games, which is why the owners want a short season with more postseason (the players don't get paid for postseason games). Not sure how the $ works here.
My thought was something fun like that, but trying to factor in the realism of asking players, staff, umps, etc all to quarantine (or risk an outbreak). What if every player is guaranteed some % of their salary (like 30%). Then whoever is able to and wants to, they all move out to one spot (say Arizona). Maybe 100 players agree, maybe 300. But hold a fantasy draft, create new teams (maybe combine, so the Philadelphia Pirates), and just do something ridiculous like this college world series idea. That lets you create a bubble for all players and staff who are willing, and not force people who can't or don't want to to uproot and be quarantined there for a few months. Split the revenue equally among the 30 teams and give anyone who goes some bonus.
Add a losers bracket so fans of teams that don't make it out of the first round get more than a handful of games with their team and I'm all in for this idea.
I like it. Remember the Mariner’s exceptional start last year? Perhaps they or another team with zero chance in a regular season makes it into one of the top 2 regionals- guaranteeing them a spot. Or the next two, giving them an excellent chance. Heck, it would be a dream come true for many if the Yankees went into a slump and were in one of the 7 team regionals.
I think for this to work the league would have to agree to pay the players some extra money for the tournament . Right now they get almost nothing for the playoffs- compared to the regular season. Money will be part of any problem and any solution.
Here is why I hate this plan - as a Rockies fan I already have no hope. The best thing about opening day is that every team is in first place. Hope springs eternal. Even if your team is horrible, on opening day you have hope. Every team starts with the same record and has a season to prove themselves. So why would we have a season where some regions have all teams making it, and others have 7 teams but only 1 gets to make it? Baseball already feels unfair with the big market teams able to outspend the small market teams, but this just rubs that in our faces. A 48 game season feels like every team has a chance - maybe they get hot at the right time. We've seen many seasons where a team overachieved for a month or 2 and then faded from contention. That should give every team hope in a short season. So why would we set up a season where different teams have different chances to make the playoffs?
I would be all for something like the group stages in the World Cup, or some other radically different way to play the season, but please at least give all teams an equal chance.
I think you misinterpreted who goes to what region. The top regions are for teams with best records. Joe used last year’s record as just an example. If the Rockies have one of the best records after 48 games, they go in region 1 or 2 and are guaranteed to get in. Good record, but not quite as good, they go to region 3 or 4 and have an excellent chance of getting in. I think for a Rockies fan your chances would be improved under this plan. Fairly short winning streaks can help a ‘not as good over the long haul team’ make the 16 team final.
Ah, I wrote my post before I saw this. That makes more sense. I thought he was simply dropping baseball into the postseason tournament without playing any regular season at all using last season's records. If he's just using that as an example, I would be fine with it. But if he's suggesting using last season's records to set up the tournament, I'm not at all interested.
He said, I’m using last years standing, but I think that will help you imagine it. Seems to me that he is using last year’s standings only to show how it would work.
Yes to everything, plus the players would let lose like they do for the playoffs. It’s not that the players are lazy, but it’s a long season and you gotta pace yourself. With your plan, there’s no pacing. We would see everything that makes baseball great.
Hi Joe, or anyone else who knows: I got an email reminding me that my subscription to JoeBlogs at Substack is renewing in six days. I have lost track—am I supposed to subscribe to that _and_ to the Athletic to get everything that Joe posts?
Thanks, Ron and Conrad. I went back into the archives and found this post from about the Athletic transition. In it Joe says that posts on Substack would be free but you need to be a paid subscriber to comment. Much as I enjoyed the comments in the old, pre-Athletic days, I don't think I would feel the need to pay extra to comment on the occasional post here if I can read the articles regardless. https://joeposnanski.substack.com/p/joeblogs-plus-athletic/comments
I cancelled mine, assuming that all of Joe's paid content is now via The Athletic. I believe posts like this one, and about his family movie nights et al, are not behind a paywall.
But it would be great to have that verified by Joe.
I haven’t seen Joe post on the Athletic since May 31 and this is second email this week. I’m confused on where to get content but have to admit I loved reading articles in my email in the past... although have learned to like The Athletic content. Any comment from Joe?
Ben. I’m pretty sure the one payment for both sites was a one time introductory special. I think after that expires you have to subscribe to both. I’d verify with customer support at both sites.
I repeat: Posnanski for Commissioner. This is a terrific and fan friendly idea but with the current commissioner and ownership in place, highly unlikely.
Joe, I stopped loving MLB several years ago for various reasons, which I won't go into here; however, your plan could **potentially** reignite my love for the game. Hopefully the decision makers read your work, 🤞.
1. MLB provides quarantined housing, food, training facilities and medical care for all players, coaches, trainers, umpires, and game-staging personnel AND THEIR FAMILIES.
2. In recognition of the national emergency, the players receive service credit and pension contributions but contribute all salary and endorsement revenues to covid research and relief.
3. In recognition of the national emergency, after paying for (1) and (2), MLB and all teams contribute all revenues from any source — broadcast rights, merchandise, licensing, etc etc — to covid research and relief.
I am certainly with you in regards to the frustration I feel that the major players in the baseball universe are completely blowing it. However, I don't agree with all of your premises. I think this season absolutely can be legitimate if they're playing a significant (i.e. 50 games or longer) season using the rules of baseball as they have been established. I don't think a shorter season or lack of fans de-legitimizes it. However, I'm cool if they get creative, but only within reason. And that includes giving each team an equal shot at making it to the championship. Why should I, as an Angels fan, want to sign up for this? Oakland and Houston automatically advance while my team has a 1 in 7 shot? No thank you. That would be a huge mistake.
Cute idea, but the owners have never had any intention of having a season. I believe they decided not to have one once it became a reality that they would have to do it without fans. They then started a daily propaganda deluge about the players taking less money. (Than the cut they had already agreed to) This entire thing has been nothing more than a PR blitz to have fans blame the players as much, if not more, than the owners.
They are getting what they already decided they wanted, and shifting the blame, as fans lump the owners and the players into one group. Reading comments in articles, fans generally blame the players a bit more than the owners, due to false equivalence looking up from the bottom at how much money they make, and a bit of innate jealousy of players. ("They get to play a game for a living, I would do that for free" Note: No you wouldn't)
It has been a brilliant strategy. They get what they want. They place a higher amount of blame on the players and place some of those on the bottom in financial straits (perhaps more likely to make concessions) ahead of the 2021 CBA negotiations.
Most drank the Koolaid they were serving in a gulp and asked for more.
Joe - love this idea. Although the issue is the $ the players get, working that out. The agreement is to pay prorated for regular season games, which is why the owners want a short season with more postseason (the players don't get paid for postseason games). Not sure how the $ works here.
My thought was something fun like that, but trying to factor in the realism of asking players, staff, umps, etc all to quarantine (or risk an outbreak). What if every player is guaranteed some % of their salary (like 30%). Then whoever is able to and wants to, they all move out to one spot (say Arizona). Maybe 100 players agree, maybe 300. But hold a fantasy draft, create new teams (maybe combine, so the Philadelphia Pirates), and just do something ridiculous like this college world series idea. That lets you create a bubble for all players and staff who are willing, and not force people who can't or don't want to to uproot and be quarantined there for a few months. Split the revenue equally among the 30 teams and give anyone who goes some bonus.
I like the tournament idea a lot. It sounds like fun to watch. But let's not get carried away with adding a lot of gimmicks to the game.
Into it!
Add a losers bracket so fans of teams that don't make it out of the first round get more than a handful of games with their team and I'm all in for this idea.
LOVE the idea!
I like it. Remember the Mariner’s exceptional start last year? Perhaps they or another team with zero chance in a regular season makes it into one of the top 2 regionals- guaranteeing them a spot. Or the next two, giving them an excellent chance. Heck, it would be a dream come true for many if the Yankees went into a slump and were in one of the 7 team regionals.
I think for this to work the league would have to agree to pay the players some extra money for the tournament . Right now they get almost nothing for the playoffs- compared to the regular season. Money will be part of any problem and any solution.
Here is why I hate this plan - as a Rockies fan I already have no hope. The best thing about opening day is that every team is in first place. Hope springs eternal. Even if your team is horrible, on opening day you have hope. Every team starts with the same record and has a season to prove themselves. So why would we have a season where some regions have all teams making it, and others have 7 teams but only 1 gets to make it? Baseball already feels unfair with the big market teams able to outspend the small market teams, but this just rubs that in our faces. A 48 game season feels like every team has a chance - maybe they get hot at the right time. We've seen many seasons where a team overachieved for a month or 2 and then faded from contention. That should give every team hope in a short season. So why would we set up a season where different teams have different chances to make the playoffs?
I would be all for something like the group stages in the World Cup, or some other radically different way to play the season, but please at least give all teams an equal chance.
I think you misinterpreted who goes to what region. The top regions are for teams with best records. Joe used last year’s record as just an example. If the Rockies have one of the best records after 48 games, they go in region 1 or 2 and are guaranteed to get in. Good record, but not quite as good, they go to region 3 or 4 and have an excellent chance of getting in. I think for a Rockies fan your chances would be improved under this plan. Fairly short winning streaks can help a ‘not as good over the long haul team’ make the 16 team final.
Ah, I wrote my post before I saw this. That makes more sense. I thought he was simply dropping baseball into the postseason tournament without playing any regular season at all using last season's records. If he's just using that as an example, I would be fine with it. But if he's suggesting using last season's records to set up the tournament, I'm not at all interested.
He said, I’m using last years standing, but I think that will help you imagine it. Seems to me that he is using last year’s standings only to show how it would work.
thank you I misunderstood this as well
If that is the case I would be fine with it.
Yes to everything, plus the players would let lose like they do for the playoffs. It’s not that the players are lazy, but it’s a long season and you gotta pace yourself. With your plan, there’s no pacing. We would see everything that makes baseball great.
You’ve got Miami twice and no Royals, but otherwise it sounds awesome.
Well, maybe not a bubble blowing competition... with spit and germs blowing everywhere, but otherwise love the rest of the plan.
Hi Joe, or anyone else who knows: I got an email reminding me that my subscription to JoeBlogs at Substack is renewing in six days. I have lost track—am I supposed to subscribe to that _and_ to the Athletic to get everything that Joe posts?
Thanks, Ron and Conrad. I went back into the archives and found this post from about the Athletic transition. In it Joe says that posts on Substack would be free but you need to be a paid subscriber to comment. Much as I enjoyed the comments in the old, pre-Athletic days, I don't think I would feel the need to pay extra to comment on the occasional post here if I can read the articles regardless. https://joeposnanski.substack.com/p/joeblogs-plus-athletic/comments
I cancelled mine, assuming that all of Joe's paid content is now via The Athletic. I believe posts like this one, and about his family movie nights et al, are not behind a paywall.
But it would be great to have that verified by Joe.
I haven’t seen Joe post on the Athletic since May 31 and this is second email this week. I’m confused on where to get content but have to admit I loved reading articles in my email in the past... although have learned to like The Athletic content. Any comment from Joe?
Joe seems to be on a well-deserved week vacation (though still posting here!). From his last post on The Athletic:
Editors note: 60 Moments will be taking a short break following this essay and will resume the week of June 8. See you then.
Thanks. I missed that
Ben. I’m pretty sure the one payment for both sites was a one time introductory special. I think after that expires you have to subscribe to both. I’d verify with customer support at both sites.
I repeat: Posnanski for Commissioner. This is a terrific and fan friendly idea but with the current commissioner and ownership in place, highly unlikely.
Joe, I stopped loving MLB several years ago for various reasons, which I won't go into here; however, your plan could **potentially** reignite my love for the game. Hopefully the decision makers read your work, 🤞.
1. MLB provides quarantined housing, food, training facilities and medical care for all players, coaches, trainers, umpires, and game-staging personnel AND THEIR FAMILIES.
2. In recognition of the national emergency, the players receive service credit and pension contributions but contribute all salary and endorsement revenues to covid research and relief.
3. In recognition of the national emergency, after paying for (1) and (2), MLB and all teams contribute all revenues from any source — broadcast rights, merchandise, licensing, etc etc — to covid research and relief.
Why not contribute revenues to Black Lives Matter?
Because covid is what shut the season down.