The MLBPA offered a new proposal to the MLB owners with a 70-game season, a universal designated hitter, $50 million in postseason bonuses and a mutual waiver of a grievance. 

Bruce Levine, Len Kasper and Sean Marshall shared their opinions on what their best format would be for the 2020 season on Cubs 360 Daily with Cole Wright.

Levine said his best format for this seasons would be 50 games. 

“The reality here is this, it’s still fighting about money. Every game that’s played is another $25 million contribution to the players. They’re fighting for more money, getting a higher pro-rated amount and more games in and I don’t blame them,” Levine said. “Remember there’s going to be rain-outs: there’s going to be situations where teams can’t play because of the pandemic. If you have any problem whatsoever with weather in some part of the country or with the pandemic, you’re going to have a problem that you’re not going to solve.”

Marshall, a former pitcher for nine seasons, believed his best proposal would be for 65 or 66 games and that would be what the players are looking for.

“That gives us 12 games against each division opponent for 48 games, we’ll get another 12 games against the A.L. Central for the Cubbies that are inter-division American League, 3-set games there. And to add a twist, a random draw. One AL team and one NL team game set. It adds a little excitement in the mix. I think we can declare a decent winner,” Marshall said. 

Kasper referred to Marshall’s idea as the “Marshall Plan” and later, Kasper described an analogy of the last 24-hour period to the Detroit Lions. 

“I grew up a Lions fan. They haven’t been in the championship game or the Super Bowl since the late 1950s. They have one playoff win since. Here’s what happens in a typical Lions game: in the 4th quarter, they’re down 6 and they get to the 1-yard line. It’s 1st-and-goal with 35 seconds to go and three timeouts and everyone goes ‘The game’s over,'” Kasper said. “Then they run the first play and they gain nothing. It’s 2nd-and-goal at the 1. They call timeout and they throw incomplete and now it’s 3rd-and-1. They take a sack and it’s 4th-and-goal. At the end of the game, it comes down to one play and unfortunately for the Lions, there’s either a fumble or something bad happens.”

Kasper finished with this final thought for the MLBPA and the owners.

“MLB and the players are at the 1-yard line. Don’t do what the Detroit Lions do; get it in the endzone,” Kasper said.