For the second time in three years, Globe Life Field will be empty on Opening Day. Tuesday, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced the first two series of the 2022 season are canceled. Canceled, meaning not postponed, not pushed back, canceled. Players will not receive any revenue. Assuming the season starts after the two series (April 7th) with no adjustments, the Rangers will open the campaign in Toronto against the Blue Jays. If there are no schedule adjustments, this means the Yankees will not make a trip to Arlington in 2022 (Joey Gallo won’t return to Globe Life Field), and Texas will not make a trip to Miami, their first since 2014.
Yankees will not be at Globe Life Field to start the year nor will the Rangers head to Miami.
So if Opening Day truly is at its current earliest, Rangers would open up April 8th at Toronto meaning Marcus Semien’s homecoming would be the unofficial Opening Day. https://t.co/MLGbIKwUV0
— Alex Plinck🏳️🌈 (@aplinckTX) March 1, 2022
After eight days of negotiation between MLB Owners and MLBPA, including Monday’s conversations that lasted about sixteen hours (give or take), the players unanimously rejected MLB’s final offer of Tuesday, the day the league adjusted as their deadline to avoid cancellations. The league locked the players out on December 2nd, but first negotiations occurred forty-three days later and, of course, felt like it would be a photo finish, to no avail. What does this mean? Well, it’s simple. Opening Day in 2022 will only be a distant memory, and sure the thought is that teams will play their first game of the 2022 season, but will it really be Opening Day? At this point, no one knows when that time will come, and fans whose excitement kick starts when March hits are in pure anger to begin March 2022.
The MLBPA's previous offer:
– CBT thresholds at 238/244/250/256/263
– Pre-arb bonus pool at $85M with $5M annual increases
– Minimums at $725K going up $20K a year— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 1, 2022
Some say the league postured its way on Monday to make it look good and make players look like the enemy. Others say the players should have accepted whatever was on the table. But, unfortunately, the blame game is going to happen. From outside sources it appears MLB and the owners had a straight agenda on how they wanted negotiations to go and banked on MLBPA slipping, to no avail. At the end of the day, the players, coaches, fans are all deprived of enjoying the game they grew up on and the game they love. The damage inflicted by the lockout, including the repercussions, may become too much for some fans and the potential baseball has to grow diminishes. Are both sides to blame? You be the judge of that, but if one puts the blame on a side, remember the events that led up to this exact moment. For most of us, the sport may never be the same. Parents have to explain why they can’t go to Globe Life Field on Opening Day to their young kids. It’s not about safety due to a widespread disease or mother nature wreaking havoc. It’s about one thing, greed.
Note: For fans that purchased tickets for Opening Day, that ticket can be usable for the team’s home opener whenever that date is announced, for another 2022 home game or a full refund. Their ticket sales representative will contact those that purchased a 20-game plan to discuss potential options.
Players haven’t been shy in voicing their opinions on social media after Tuesday’s news of Opening Day cancelation. Here are some of the Rangers’ players’ thoughts:
— Taylor Hearn (@thearn14) March 1, 2022
🤦🏾♂️
— DeMarcus Evans (@D_Evans42) March 1, 2022
— Jose Trevino (@HipHipJose5) March 1, 2022
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