Dear baseball…

The current negotiations between the owners and the players association remind me of a time when I was 10 years old. Our travel team was not able to play one night due to rising tensions between the owner dads and our union. One side didn’t want to spend too much on the snacks, the other felt like it was risking a lot to stand in the batter’s box and potentially be hit by a 45 miles per hour heater. 

But of course that didn’t happen. We were 10. We were playing for the love of the game. And we couldn’t play because of rain. 

I have always been a fan of baseball. I will always be. It is by far my favorite sport. But right now, as much as I love baseball, I do not love the MLB. 

They say the two sides are slowly inching together towards a deal. However, I feel like I’ve heard that so many times already. We are supposed to already be in Spring Training 2.0. 

The first round of the draft was last night. You got a group of kids ecstatic at the chance to play in the majors. But you can’t play in the majors if you don’t have the majors. And of course, this goes beyond 2020 — what if we don’t have a season in 2021? What is going to happen with the CBA negotiations next year? That has the potential to be a mess. 

Everyone knows how bad a look this has been on the sport. And that says a lot given that there were not one, but two cheating scandals that consumed the offseason. So please, put on your big-boy pants and bring baseball back. We need it.

And to the owners: if you need to borrow a few bucks, just ask. I’m more than willing to fork over a few quarters if it means having baseball return.