PROGRESS! HERE IS THE HOPE YOU HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR

"Why can't you write about something positive?!"

Valid question! I was asked this on Twitter. The simple answer here has been: well, when it comes to baseball....there hasn't been a lot of positive, feel good news out there besides the MLB Draft. It took center stage for a brief moment, but didn't last long. Then it was back to the players union and owners fighting. It's news, so we have to cover it. It's what we do. But hold onto your hats everyone, here is some fluffy feel good news for you.....

It sounds like the players union and MLB are finally having a productive conversation. It's a sign of hope. It's that little bit of hope we have been waiting for. It may just be a baby step....but it sounds better than Failing Rob Manfred's declaration of  "100% certain baseball will happen" to one week later him saying he was "not confident" after the players union said they were done negotiating.

I really hope that both sides got a kick in the butt. Yes, I mean both sides. Every other sport is making strides to getting back to action. This ongoing feud of millionaires and billionaires fighting with each other is tone deaf.

We have all been through some hard times. This virus has completely disrupted everything in our lives. Players and owners both underestimated just how important a GAME is. It sucks that it took a pandemic to do it, but it is still a lesson learned. We all want some sort of normalcy back in our world. Suddenly the sound of a ball making solid contact with a bat is thrilling. It's a sound of life! I just want to watch Aaron Judge hit home runs again!

We have all had to come together in recent weeks. We've all had hardships in recent months and a lot of stress. We have struggled to unite as a country in a time where we were already struggling. We are halfway through the year but 2020 has not been kind to us...

We need to work through these safety concerns and get over the greed. By greed, I don't just mean one side, it is both sides. Back in 2001 after September 11, baseball helped heal and unite us. We need that again and for the first time in a while I feel like we are on the right path.

As I write this, owners have agreed to full pro-rated salaries but players want to play 10 more games than owners are comfortable with. If the last disagreement is really just 10 games I hope owners can suck it up and just play the extra games. It's such a minor compromise at this point. We'll see what happens.

It's been hard to write about baseball the past few months. Baseball is so important to this country because there is such a rich history behind it. The key for all of us is uniting and coming together in more ways than one. There's a lot of healing that needs to happen, and baseball can do that.

Everyone involved needs to do better....and this is a start. This is a small piece of good news we all need right now.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @nyprincessj