First, the union wants to ban player props to reduce harassment from butt-hurt gamblers.Second, the MLBPA is asking the league for clarity on obtaining endorsement and sponsorship deals with legal sportsbooks and prediction markets.
Third, the players are pushing the MLB to adjust how sports betting investigations and punishments are dealt with. ORIOLES PITCHER CADE POVICH CALLS OUT ONLINE HARASSMENT AFTER WIFE THREATENEDA locked padlock and chain against two official MLB baseballs representing a potential lockout between MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) for the 2027 season.(David J.
Griffin/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)I have pushback for the first two proposals, with the last being a nonstarter, and that’s coming from someone who almost always sides with the players. In fact, I'd understand if the MLBPA went on strike over the owners' salary cap proposal.As my colleague, Ian Miller, wrote earlier this month:Owners do not care about competitive balance.
Many are using baseball teams as real estate developments, then do not count that ancillary income towards baseball spending ...It's a way [the proposed salary cap] for owners to limit spending, not to actually compress an imaginary competitive gap.Anyway, the player props thing is pretty straightforward; players are sick of getting sh-- from the fans for losing their bets.Unfortunately, there are several instances of bettors harassing players lately.
Last year, I wrote about Houston Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr., his wife and their two daughters receiving death threats after Lance’s bad outing.There is just no defending that behavior, and the harasser/scumbag should walk the plank, so to speak.Period.
End of discussion. Also, there is a credible argument for reducing the surface area of fixing these player props by removing them altogether.Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz are on unpaid leave while awaiting trial for allegedly rigging pitch...