Report: Many MLB Players Prefer 50-Game Season over Sliding-Pay-Scale Proposal

If given the choice between a 50- and 82-game schedule, MLB players reportedly are leaning toward 50 games.

According to Jon Heyman of the MLB Network, the players prefer a prorated pay scale across 50 games as opposed to a 40 percent pay cut proposed for an 82-game slate:

In March, MLB players agreed to prorated salaries once baseball returned from its hiatus because of the COVD-19 pandemic. But with owners saying they are due to lose massive amounts of revenue because of the necessity to hold games without fans in the stadiums, they have asked the players to take further pay cuts on top of the prorated salaries.

The players have refused, saying they've already made contractual concessions. Players have proposed keeping that prorated scale over the course of a 114-game season. Major League Baseball offered a "six-tier sliding scale of cuts starting at 10 percent and rising to 90 percent for the amounts of salaries above $10 million, followed by prorating based on an 82-game season," per the Associated Press.

Per that report, the teams with the highest payrolls—the New York Yankees, Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers—would save in excess of $100 million with the MLB plan. Under the players' plan, for instance, the payroll would be $154.6 million for the Yankees. Under MLB's plan, the payroll would be slashed to $47.9 million.

At the bottom end of the spectrum, the Miami Marlins would have a payroll of $33.01 million under the MLBPA proposal and $15.5 million under the MLB plan.

The top paid stars would also take enormous losses under the MLB plan. Mike Trout and Gerrit Cole, each set to make $36 million in 2020, would make $25.3 million under the MLB Players Association proposal and $5.6 million under the MLB plan.

It remains a very real possibility that the sides won't be able to bridge their gaps and the 2020 season will be lost entirely. That's the worst-case scenario, but it remains feasible given the large divide between the MLBPA and MLB owners.