Spring Training games officially delayed for the Detroit Tigers

Full season now in jeopardy for Detroit Tigers with ongoing negotiations

The Detroit Tigers were supposed to be playing the Washington Nationals on Saturday–instead, minicamp rolls on, and players on the 40-man roster are left on the outside looking in as the player’s association awaits a deal with ownership.

While many anticipated that agreeing could be a long and contentious process, only a few cynical minds felt that a significant dent would be put into spring training or the regular season. Unfortunately, that fear is two days from reality.

Beyond their contest that was scheduled to happen today, the league has also canceled an additional 10 contests running through March 7th. It would still leave plenty of time for tune-ups with 22 games left on the docket, but between the logistical nightmares that already spiral every season and the time necessary to build pitchers out, it is understandable why Manfred calls the end of the month a hard deadline for a full 162-game schedule.

The Detroit Tigers spring training facility remains in Lakeland, FL at Publix Field–an area that will undoubtedly be directly impacted economically by the league’s delay. Minicamp rolls on, but in addition to only non-40-man players being present, the Tigers have made minicamp admission free to the public for their glorified workouts, although that could change soon, too.

Teams are getting increasingly more conservative with who is allowed within their sites. The concern is that with the Rule 5 draft still outstanding, other clubs would have an opportunity to get some more recent looks on players who may be eligible. This policy has reportedly started already and is expected to slowly spread throughout the league.

If a deal is struck before month-end, there will be a flurry of news between free agent signings and those reporting to camp (hopefully not too many reports about players being in the best shape of their life). If not, it will mark the first non-162 game season since the strike in 1994 (excluding the pandemic).

I remain hopeful that there will be Detroit Tigers baseball in 2022. Too many people stand to lose too much for there not to be some type of agreement to protect the money everyone is there to make. At the same time, without significant progress in negotiations, this general optimism remains somewhat blind.