Rob Manfred's Latest Comments Suggest There Will Be MLB Lockout in 2022

The past calendar year has been devastating for the idea of labor peace in the game of baseball, with players' rights seemingly under attack by the establishment at every angle.

Salaries for elite free agents are growing lower and lower, marginal veterans are being squeezed out of the game swiftly, and the Commissioner has waged an all-out assault on Minor League Baseball.

And if you were still harboring a glimmer of an idea that he might bend his economic ask in the interest of the greater good next time the two sides come to the bargaining table, extinguish the glimmer presently. Manfred ain't budging.

Manfred made it clear he would not make economic successions of any kind in order to "buy" a 2022 season without interruption, going as far as to state of the great negotiator Marvin Miller, "Maybe [Miller’s] financial system doesn’t work anymore.”

Oh, great!

So, let it be stated two years in advance: No, this is not a strike.

If and when it occurs, the players will not be walking out on something reasonable. They will be locked out of their own game by a billionaire class that seems to have no interest in taking care of what they've acquired.