The weather is warming and the flowers are blooming, but this spring won’t be the same as years prior.
That’s because instead of players reporting to Florida and Arizona for spring training, the league announced on Tuesday the cancelation of Opening Day, as well as the first two series of the season after MLB owners and the Players Association were unable to come to terms on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement before commissioner Rob Manfred's March 1 deadline.
And fans are fed up.
“It’s unfortunate and it’s also sad that the league office and Rob [Manfred] and the ownership groups are being so callous with the fans and the game, the sport we all love,” Giants outfielder Austin Slater said on KNBR’s “Murph & Mac” podcast.
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On Sunday, the owners and the MLBPA will have their first negotiating session since Manfred announced the initial cancelations.
Sunday will be the 95th day of the lockout.
“The way we see it is we’re just asking for a fair deal,” Slater said. “It’s an unfortunate side effect that the players are trying to get just a fair deal and the owners are just wiping games without any consideration for fans.
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“Who’s to say that fans will come back the same that they always have after seeing this lockout persist and just the way the league has handled it throughout this whole process. Delaying, delaying, delaying, delaying, instead of negotiating in good faith.”
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It’s safe to say fans who witnessed the previous 1994 strike are once again frustrated with the sport and the league 27 years later.
“It’s hard to predict the future but there’s not going to be a Barry Bonds, Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa home run chase to get the fans re-engaged in the game,” Slater said. “You can’t predict the future but you look back on the ‘94 strike and that was a big reason for baseball coming back. Center of the public eye and getting fans re-engaged. it’s hard to predict but it’s likely not going to happen again.”