Once it became evident Opening Day of the 2020 regular season would not be held on March 26, Major League Baseball and the Players Association entered into negotiations for matters pertaining to service time and player salaries.
An agreement was reached relatively quickly, with players being due to earn service time they did last season regardless of how many games are played in 2020, along with prorated salaries. However, interpretation of the agreement is now at the basis of friction between MLB and the MLBPA.
While the union maintains an economic plan for this season is in place, team owners believe language in the March deal allowed for new negotiations if the league faced unprecedented challenges — which MLB asserts is the case as fans won’t be permitted to attend games at the outset of a season beginning.