MLBPA offers 89 games, prorated salaries to MLB owners

Baseball commissioner Robert D. Manfred, Jr. offered a 76-game regular season with 75 percent prorated salaries. Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Report: MLBPA offers 89 games, prorated salaries, expanded playoffs to MLB owners

By Zac Wassink | Last updated Jun 9, 2020 8:25 PM ET

On Monday, ESPN's Jeff Passan reported MLB owners had offered the MLB Players Association a 76-game regular season with 75 percent prorated salaries and a postseason that includes either seven or eight clubs per league to start the campaign in July amid the coronavirus pandemic.

It appears the players have prepared their rebuttal.

Passan tweeted on Tuesday that the union is willing to go down from 114 games to 89 games with a full prorated share of salaries and an expanded postseason format:

The MLBPA is making a proposal to MLB for a season of around 89 games with a full prorated share of salary and expanded playoffs, sources familiar with the situation told ESPN. It would bring the sides closer to a potential deal and is ~25 games under the last union offer.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) June 9, 2020

The proposal is for 89 games, not around 89, and is 25 fewer than the union’s last proposal of 114 games at full pro rata, sources tell ESPN.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) June 9, 2020

Earlier this month, Passan, MLB insider Ken Rosenthal and Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported that owners rejected the 114-game proposal submitted by the players. Sherman added the owners would agree only to 80 or more regular-season games if salaries were prorated at a reduced percentage.

Meanwhile, even though Passan expects MLB to reject this proposal, he does think both sides might be moving closer to a resolution.

While MLB will reject this offer from the union, it takes the sides much closer to a likely number of games. As hard-and-fast as the MLBPA is on full pro rata, though, the league is entrenched in ending the season Sept. 27. Important: TV networks don’t want to move playoff games.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) June 10, 2020

Zac Wassink

Zac Wassink is a longtime sports news writer and PFWA member who began his career in 2006 and has had his work featured on Yardbarker, MSN, Yahoo Sports and Bleacher Report. He is also a football and futbol aficionado who is probably yelling about Tottenham Hotspur at the moment and who chanted for Matt Harvey to start the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2015 World Series at Citi Field. You can find him on X at @ZacWassink

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