MLB owners OK plan that could start 2020 season in July

Major League Baseball owners on Monday approved a plan that would allow for the 2020 season to start Fourth of July weekend -- without fans. Negotiations with the Major League Baseball Players Association will reportedly begin Tuesday.

The guess here is this will all fall apart because of a dispute between owners and the players' union about money -- this is ridiculous and petty, given that millions of Americans are out of work during the COVID-19 pandemic -- but more on that later.

Here are the nuts and bolts of the plan:

1. Each team would play 82 games against clubs within their own division, plus nearby teams from the opposite league.

2. Fourteen clubs would make the playoffs instead of 10 -- three division champions and four wild-card teams from each league.

3. Teams would play at their own ballparks, unless not allowed for medical or political reasons. Backup locations would be spring training sites. In other words, I hope the White Sox like Glendale, Ariz.

4. A universal DH is likely.

5. Rosters would expand from 26 to 30 players. Expect teams to carry extra pitchers, since the long layoff is harder on arms than it is on position players.

6. The All-Star Game, scheduled to be in Los Angeles this year, will not be played.

Spring training could resume in mid-June, if the owners and players can come to an agreement on what to do about salaries -- and given the first-rate jerks involved in these negotiations, I'm not counting on it.

In March, the players agreed to take a prorated portion of their salaries for the 2020 season, and union chief Tony Clark says that negotiation is over.

Owners, however, want players to get a 50-50 split of revenues during the regular season and postseason. Why? Well, without fans, revenues will be down, and owners want the players to help absorb some of that hit.

The players' union considers this to be tantamount to a salary cap, and frankly, there's no way in hell they are going to agree to that.

So, billionaires will be fighting with millionaires over large sums of money, as everyday people in America are trying to hang on with the economy in the toilet while enduring a once-in-a-century health crisis.

Aren't the optics great on that?

It's too bad because baseball has a great opportunity here. ... Most of us are going to be stuck at home -- notice I said stuck at home, not safe at home -- for the foreseeable future, and we would love some live sports to help us through. There's no question ratings will be up if a baseball season is played. What else do we have to do besides watch?

Now, that said, if the season gets torpedoed because the players have health concerns, I totally understand. I may not like it, I may be sad, but I'll understand. You can't really criticize someone, or a group of people, if they say, "I'm not doing this because it is a risk to my health."

However, if the season is not played because of disputes about money, all you can really do is shake your head.