BenFred: Now is the time for MLB owners and players to find common ground | Ben Frederickson

“Everybody wants to play, for a lot of reasons,” said veteran Cardinals lefty Andrew Miller, a longtime leader in the players’ union. “The finances of the game, whether it’s from the player or the owner perspective, it’s in everybody’s best interest to get games going. But we have to make sure we are smart about it.”

“We are so far away right now from even discussing the schedule, or the ramp-up of — ‘When are we going to start this?’ — that right now there are not any tough conversations being had. It’s going to be complicated, and that will be kind of a true test of how well we are working together.”

This road has a clear split ahead. One path brings owners and players closer together. It reminds them that everyone suffers without their game. It subtly warns them that their fans are in a tough spot, one that does not offer much sympathy toward public bickering between billionaires and millionaires.

The other path could become a fast lane to another stretch without baseball. That break would have nothing to do with a pandemic. Just ego and greed.

Wainwright was the best Cardinal to ask.

“That’s a good question,” he said the day baseball shuttered, while loading belongings into his truck.