Set a deadline, and you might actually get a deal at last

Precisely 12 weeks have passed since Major League Baseball shut down spring training and delayed the start of the regular season, the novel coronavirus having forced the entire nation to shut down like never before.

Nobody knew at that moment how much time would pass before baseball could be played again, but slowly it became clear the target date for starting a condensed 2020 season would fall right around July 4.

Which meant teams would need to be able to start holding workouts for a second round of spring training about three weeks earlier. Which meant MLB and the MLB Players Association would need to agree to a firm plan for this most unusual season sometime in early-June.

Well, guess what? It's June 4. Twelve weeks have passed, and the two sides don't appear to be anywhere close to striking a deal, now putting the 2020 season in serious jeopardy.

MLB reportedly rejected the union's proposal for a 114-game season Wednesday and claimed it would not respond with a counteroffer. Rob Manfred is now threatening to unilaterally impose a 50-game season on the players, though it's debatable whether the commissioner has the authority to do that.

Which leaves us where, exactly? Pretty much right back where we started, with the owners and players arguing over money and unable to find consensus.

If you've ever followed labor negotiations before, particularly this sport's labor negotiations, you know this isn't uncommon. The league and the union rarely work out deals in a simple, expedited manner. They always appear to be on the brink of disaster.

So what has kept them from going over the cliff for the last 25 years? Two things: 1) The joint understanding of the long-term damage a work stoppage would inflict on baseball, and 2) The pressure to get a deal done before a deadline that would result in said work stoppage.

By all accounts, the two sides appear to grasp the significance of the first point. Nobody affiliated with baseball believes the sport would benefit from a 17-month layoff between the 2019 World Series and opening day 2021.

But what good is any of that if there's no deadline to get a deal done?

For weeks, we've floated the suggestion that the first week of June was a make-or-break point in order to start the season by July 4. But there have never been any concrete ramifications if that timeframe isn't met. It has remained a nebulous point on the calendar.

That can't remain the case any longer. If MLB and the MLBPA are serious about playing in 2020, they need to set a hard deadline. Make it Saturday. Make it Monday. Make it later next week. Whatever the date, select a date. And then state this unequivocally: If the deadline passes with no deal, there's no 2020 season.

This worked in 2002, when the union set an Aug. 30 deadline for a new collective bargaining agreement and vowed to strike if it passed without a deal. They got a deal done with a couple hours to spare.

It's worked in other professional sports leagues. It's worked in other industries. It's even worked (sometimes) in government.

Maybe it backfires. Maybe the two sides set a midnight deadline this weekend, try to find some middle ground, fail to do so in time and the season is gone in a puff of smoke.

But to continue on the current, aimless path where proposals carry no real weight and decisions can always be pushed back another day is a hopeless path. Next thing you know, it'll be June 20, there still won't be baseball and the chances of a meaningful, representative season will be gone anyway.

Set a deadline. Work furiously until then to find a compromise that neither satisfies nor disgusts either side.

And if the deadline passes without a deal? Well, at least we'll know you actually tried.