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Rave situation: Owners, players deliver
- Updated: December 1, 2016
IRVING, Texas — Who won? That’s the easy part. No need to bother with fine print.
We win. That means you. Me, too. Yep, all of us.
Win? Yeah. Big time.
In the bottom of the ninth inning Wednesday evening, baseball delivered a walk-off double in the gap, a 100-mph heater at the knees, a dazzling rookie, a savvy veteran. However you want to frame it, this was a victory for everyone.
That’s how it felt at 7:40 p.m. CT when a couple of tense days ended with an assortment of players, owners, lawyers and staffers pouring from meeting rooms to exchange handshakes and hugs.
• Peace & glove: Owners, players reach CBA deal
Just like that, 36 nerve-wracking, exhausting hours of nearly round-the-clock negotiations were over.
We all won.
Yes, there’ll be more work as Major League Baseball’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement is put into writing and as final details are worked out.
This is it, though. No work stoppage. No interruption of anything.
Leave those Hot Stoves on. Where is Edwin Encarnacion going anyway? Will the White Sox trade Chris Sale?
This gets us back to what’s important at a time of the year we love. When baseball delivers hope, debate or some combination of the two.
In the end, the owners and players did the only thing that makes sense. They kept riding the wave.
Sure, they tweaked a few things, changing a tax here and a compensation system there.
There were no dramatic changes, but none was needed. What they didn’t do was interrupt the game.
They understood that Major League Baseball has never been better than it is right …
