Daniel R. Epstein – Baseball Prospectus ($): The way that Major League Baseball owners, and MLB itself, have handled the shutdown has been almost universally atrocious. They had to be pressured into paying stadium workers and minor leaguers anything. Now that they are paying it’s still not enough as the billionaire and millionaire owners are doling out checks that leave their workers well below the poverty level. Minor League Baseball owners aren’t exempt either, as of this writing they have not vowed to pay any of their stadium workers during the shutdown.
Craig Edwards – FanGraphs: Baseball fans have fallen in love with the 162 game schedule as some ideal full schedule. That schedule is a construct of what fans have been engineered to believe is ideal. The reality is that there is no ideal schedule and an 80 game, 60 game, or 50 game schedule is just as ideal as a 162 game schedule. It is true that there is some variance that becomes more prominent with a shorter season, but by no means does that make a shorter season any less valid.
Emma Baccellieri – Sports Illustrated: The shutdown has impacted minor leaguers, and major leaguers, financially. The one aspect that hasn’t been talked about enough is how it’s affecting players from foreign countries who either can’t or aren’t being allowed to return home. They are isolated like everyone else, but they are isolated in a place that isn’t home with very little to occupy their time while they have to worry about family back home. It’s a terrible situation all around, and there’s no end in sight.
Lead photo courtesy of Unknown – Unknown
