The are and now baseball is in the middle of its . and the MLBPA were unable to agree to a new collective bargaining agreement prior to the Dec. 1 deadline, so the owners locked out the players, . The regular season will soon be in jeopardy.Throughout the offseason the CBS Sports MLB experts will bring you a weekly Batting Around roundtable breaking down pretty much anything. The latest news, a historical question, thoughts about the future of baseball, all sorts of stuff. . This week we're going to discu s the length of the 2022 season.R.J. Anderson: I'll hold out hope a little longer and Bode Wilde Kids Jersey say 162. I can't pretend I have a great deal of confidence with how the owners and the league have operated to date, but I also have a hard time imagining them willingly losing regular-season revenue over some proposed changes that are -- to be frank -- anything but radical. It would be myopic and silly -- and, given who we're talking about, I suppose it must be taken as a serious po sibility. Matt Snyder: I'm going to maintain a little optimism here, too, and say the players are in camp by March 1. Commi sioner Rob Manfred said in his pre s conference last week they'd need about four Leo Komarov Men Jersey weeks of spring training to start the regular season and while much of that pre s conference was him spewing nonsense, I believe that part. A March 1 beginning of spring training means opening day on March 31 is doable. Let's keep the faith here. Dayn Perry: I'm still inclined to say 162. Cutting into the regular season is a whole other level of self-destruction that I don't think MLB is willing to Pat Lafontaine Kids Jersey let happen. That's when players start mi sing checks, and that's when the money gets serious for team owners. I think the league's goal is to break the union, but I don't think they're willing to lose games that count in order to achieve that (very cynical) objective. I'm prepared to be disappointed on this front, but for now I'm saying we get a full regular season. Mike Axisa: I've tried to remain optimistic. I was originally hopeful there would be no work stoppage, thinking neither side wanted a third straight compromised season. Now I can't help but feel pe simistic about the lockout because the owners don't seem all that interested in getting a deal done (there is no good reason for waiting 43 days to make an offer after initiating the lockout). The players made by far the biggest move during negotiations when they proposed an expanded 12-team postseason field, and the owners are proposing baby steps. And every one of those baby steps has a string attached. We'll give you a slightly higher minimum salary, but it will be a set salary teams can't exceed. We'll slightly raise the luxury-tax threshold, but it'll come with ma sively increased penalties. MLB's proposals don't even Adam Pelech Women Jersey keep up with inflation, nevermind with league revenues. If the owners want to get a deal done, they aren't showing it. To answer the question, I'm going to say 80 games with the season starting in early July, and hope I'm wrong. History tells us that things will look dire for a long time, then the two sides will get together and hammer out a deal in like 36 hours. Hopefully that happens soon and the regular season can begin as scheduled. I'm no longer optimistic though. The owners have yet to make an offer serious enough to get the union's attention, and I don't see them caving anytime soon. They seem very willing to lose fans and Robin Lehner Women Jersey do long-term damage to the sport as long as it puts one extra penny in their pocket.