Following a vote on Monday afternoon, the Major League Baseball Players’ Association (MLBPA) opted to reject MLB’s proposal of a 60-game season with full prorated salaries, an expanded postseason, and a promise by the union not to file a grievance against the league.
According to ESPN’s Jesse Rogers and Jeff Passan, the vote that consisted of 38 members resulted in a 33-5 margin.
The league originally decided not to counter the players’ proposal of a 70-game format last week, which led to the players’ vote on Monday, firmly leaving the ball in commissioner Rob Manfred’s court.
Manfred now is scheduled to implement a 60-game season that will start on July 29, though no official announcement is imminent as of yet, per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. However, the option for the union to grieve the terms of the late-March agreement between the two parties that the players would get full prorated salaries will still be on the table.
The players would still get full prorated salaries in Manfred’s format, but the delay that came with stalled negotiations between the union and league has continued providing the players with a pay cut.
Regardless, several owners are pleading with Manfred to implement a 2020 season by Monday night, per Nightengale.
ESPN’s Buster Olney noted that Manfred could implement 102% prorated salaries to “help both sides move forward.”
