2021

What's going to happen next late winter when no new cards come out to play?

They might want to put out a couple of older sets to make up for no 2020 cards when this season is canceled.

Maybe 1985 or 1987 , plus 1994 or 1995 and possibly 2000, 2001, or 2002. I don't think they would put out that many new/old sets. But they will have to think of something for those who don't like THE DAILY GAME.

Has the 2020 season officially been cancelled? I know the battle of billionaires vs. millionaires is ongoing. But Manfred hasnt officially canceled I thought. But given if its a season less than 100 games then the 2020 data set would be questionable relative to all other seasons.

It is frustrating that money is still being argued given all the negative stuff going around the world effecting billions of people. I do understand the point of view of both owners and players but this is going to kill the game popularity, could be worse than the 1994 strike.

Yeah, good points. I don't know what is going to happen but they definitely won't be playing 100 regular season games. If they play at all it will be like 50-80 games, at best.

If they don't play at all what should Strat-O-Matic do next winter? Should they make one or more retro seasons available?

ps. In the battle of Billionaires v. The Players ( many millionaires) I support the Player's union!

Manfred says there will be a season of around 50 games or so no matter what (he can impose it). Seeing as how we have full-time players who have 100 abs or so...I dont see what the impediment is to having 2020 cards.

Agreed about the effect on the game. And while I usually dont have a lot of sympathy for the owners...I think the blame for this goes on the players. We're not talking about some long-term rights that are being affected here. Whether the owners are in trouble financially or not-- and we dont know that clearly because we cant see their books--owners are going to take a revenue hit with no fans at games. So for the players to insist they get their full pro-rated salary for every game...just looks greedy to me. If you dont want to risk your health...dont play. I mean, there are many people risking their lives for minimum wage and you wont take 70% (up to 80% if you make the play-offs) of your exorbitant salaries to play ball? And you dont have to accept that....but just be willing to negotiate and accept a number between 70% and 100%. It's a bad, bad look for players when baseball could be a welcome distraction (they could be playing already) and theyve got a collective bargaining agreement expiring pretty soon and they are burning up sympathy for that fight.

There isnt some immutable law that mandates players get paid so much money. They benefit from monopolistic practices in how the game is set up, monopolistic practices in the cable TV industry, and from corporations buying an estimated 30-50% of tickets. The DOW has gone up 3000% since 1990 while median worker wages have gone up 30% (that tends to allow corporations to spend money on tickets and stadium naming rights). In other words, players benefit from economic practices that have shifted wealth from workers/consumers to businesses and investors. So , the average person has to pay too much for cable...and cant afford to see a game. And players are going to say they cant possibly accept less than 100% of their salaries which in a certain sense are obtained at the expense of the average worker? It's just obscene. They dont have to go fight a war to serve the country...just play ball at a slightly reduced salary.

Every owner is a billionaire, while 99% of the players won't miss a meal , the owners will not miss a single trip on their private yachts and airplanes.

Hold on a second. The players are absolutely not demanding 100% of their salary. They are demanding 100% of their PRO RATED salaries. They are asking for less than 1/3rd of what they would have received.

I'm wondering how they will handle the injury ratings for a 50 game season. Will every player have a 4 or 5 injury rating, or will we see players with 170 ABs that have a 1 rating?