If there are fewer games, it'll be on purpose--mostly
Fear mongering over the lockout costing all or parts of next season is silly...this time
Baseball is apparently still being played, but it's never too soon to start dreading the lockout. On December 1, Major League Baseball's collective bargaining agreement will expire and the owners will lock out the players while they bargain in good faith (sure) to get a new deal in place as soon as possible (yeah, right).
There is a fear that the owners' dogged pursuit of a salary cap, and the players' very understandable refusal to let that happen will blow this up to the point that there is either no 2027 season, or a bastardized, shortened version of a season.
I don't think it makes sense for the very simple reason that the timing doesn't work out to the owners' benefit. Most of the owners are dissatisfied with the current national TV deals that the league has with FOX, TBS, NBC, and Apple TV. Those deals are up for renewal in 2028 and expire in 2029, and if they really do want to improve them, shitcanning a season before that happens is dumb, even by the whopping standards of those guys.
