I think fans are angry when forced to confront the truth about pro athletes.

Pro athletes are not your friend. Neither is Matt Damon. Neither is Flo from those commercials.

I enjoy baseball as much as anybody, but baseball isn't going to save you and baseball isn't going to save this country:

"Over 100,000 deaths in the United States from the coronavirus. More than forty million unemployed workers. Brutal discrimination flooding news feeds. Protests in Minneapolis. Presidential tweets being censored for glorifying violence. Beloved sports bars and restaurants shutting their doors for good."

Right.

Puts some perspective on a silly diversion like baseball, no?

Also, the President's tweet was not censored. Twitter is a private company and ... oh, forget it ... my goodness, I have tried to explain this on the Internet for over twenty years.

"Baseball can be the first sport to provide a sense of normalcy; a dosage of healing and vital change during these uncertain and tragic times. Instead, players and owners, millionaires and billionaires, are squabbling about pay cuts and how to make up for lost profit — ensuring that baseball fans, their community of consumers, feel like they’re the last thing on their minds."

Fans are not the last thing on the minds of baseball players and owners.

The last thing on their mind, technically, is the Star Games episode with the stars from Gimme a Break. Remember those shows?

"Fans, having accepted they will likely not be attending games at ballparks this year, want baseball, at the very least, to return to their daily lives through their television screens. Fans have seen, read and heard enough about the public back-and-forth between Major League Baseball and the Players Association to understand how this will play out

Money could end up being the reason baseball doesn’t return in 2020."

Oh no! Not money! Players are greedy? Owners are greedy? In 21st Century America? I'm shocked.

Listen up, poor people ... "middle class" people ... sub-millionaire front line  losers. Rich people don't care about you other than your value as a consumer.

"The feud between MLB and the players may go on for another week, maybe even another month. It will go on as long as it takes for both sides to reach an agreement on salary and, to a smaller degree, health protocols. Major league players are the best at what they do, and they perform in a system that greatly rewards them for those talents. But the longer the groups squabble, the more they have to lose. For now, fans are following along closely. But the clock is ticking on the longevity of their enthusiasm for the sport."

I think they're going to play baseball this year.

The feud will be quickly forgotten; a short-term unnecessary PR hit. Forgotten until the next contract negotiations.

They'll play, alright. Half a season, goofy scheduling, empty ballparks, bad TV ratings after an Opening Day surge, and general difficulty trying to attract young fans, speed up the game, compete with other entertainment, and legitimize the results of an 80-game season.

Ultimately, it doesn't even come down to money. The virus will make the final decision.

At this point, it looks optimistic that the health concerns of the players can be mitigated. But we still don't know much about the virus and it could have a second surge throughout the planet, throughout the country, and surely throughout a baseball locker room.