Milwaukee Brewers Remain Ever Optimistic

Got an email last week from the Milwaukee Brewers. A very optimistic email.

Seems the Brewers are all-in on getting a baseball season underway in 2020. They wanted me to be know that the Opening Day tickets (and parking pass) that I purchased for the then-scheduled March 26th game are still good.

They informed me that the tickets will be honored for the first regular season home game played at Miller Park in 2020. What if they play but don't allow fans? I wondered.

At this point, rumors fly around that the season will get on track July 1st, which would leave 78 games out of the normal 162. If baseball held off until after the All-Star break (the game was scheduled for July 14th), then that leaves a 73 game schedule.

Why the optimism? Well, the owners are losing money while the games sit idle. And the players? Oh my, they stand to lose A LOT of money if they don't get in games. Back in March, a deal between Major League Baseball and the player's union gained a key objective in bargaining: If no games played, each player would get the same amount of service time as he earned in 2019. And as part of the deal, teams advanced $170 million in salary -- but players give up clams to any more if the season is scrapped.

That leaves each player to earn a maximum $260,000, $60,000, $30,000 or $16,500 depending on his contract if there is a missed season.

Putting that in perspective -- if this was a normal season, Ryan Braun (top salary on the club) would earn $16,094,855 for the year, or $99,351 per game.

In the meantime, ESPN2 is carrying Korean baseball games. Yes, the Korean Baseball Organization -- the league that gave Milwaukee Eric Thames -- is ready to fill your baseball void for a handful of games. Sorta reminds me of the days when the Chicago White Sox came up to play at Milwaukee County Stadium, between the Braves' leaving and the Brewers' arriving. Back then, Bud Selig was angling to buy the White Sox and move them up the interstate to Milwaukee.