SI:AM | Deal or No Deal? MLB Cancellations Look Likely

Plus, the latest on Kyrie Irving’s status for games in Brooklyn.

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I’m holding out hope for a mostly full baseball season, but I’m growing less optimistic by the day. 

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162 games seems unlikely

It’s the last day of February. Under normal circumstances, tomorrow would be the first day of the month in which the baseball season begins. Instead, tomorrow could very well be the day that MLB announces the cancellation of games due to the unresolved lockout.

Ownership has been adamant for weeks now that today is the deadline to get a deal done. Or else, regular season games need to start getting canceled. That’s why Tom Verducci wrote on Friday that this weekend was going to be “the most important weekend in the business of baseball” since MLB and the union narrowly averted a strike in August 2002. It’s safe to say that this weekend’s negotiations weren’t as productive as the ’02 talks, and now we’re looking at the strong possibility of the first labor dispute-shortened season since 1995.

Here’s where things stand right now: A source on the management side described yesterday’s discussions as “productive” to ESPN’s Jesse Rogers, but Evan Drellich and Ken Rosethal of The Athletic quoted one anonymous player as saying the parties have “a long way to go” on the key issues. Those issues are the same ones that our MLB editor Matt Martell discussed in Friday’s newsletter—primarily economic considerations like the competitive balance tax, minimum salaries and Super 2 eligibility.

While neither side made a formal proposal in yesterday’s meeting, they did have discussions on some of those wedge issues. It isn’t really worth getting into all the granular details here (although, Drellich and Rosenthal’s piece is excellent if you want a closer look at all the particulars), but the bottom line is this: the two sides are closer to a deal, but still not especially close.

While all the reporting indicates that a deal appears unlikely to be reached by the end of the day, cancellations may not be a foregone conclusion. Drellich and Rosenthal wrote that the “highly unlikely” best-case scenario for today’s negotiations (which began at 10 a.m. ET) is that ownership feels the sides have achieved enough momentum toward a deal that it chooses not to stick to its self-imposed deadline. As someone who has followed baseball all his life, I find it extremely implausible that owners would pass up an opportunity to punish players, but I suppose it can’t hurt to be hopeful.

If games are canceled, fans should have nobody to blame but the owners. They instituted this lockout. They’re the ones pushing to grow their slice of the pie while giving players less. They’re the ones who set the arbitrary Feb. 28 deadline. Scrapping games would be a shame, but the damage may already be done. As Verducci wrote on Friday, “Voluntarily removing your product from the shelf is bad enough. The void being met with apathy instead of anger is worse.”

The best of Sports Illustrated

Thomas Lovelock/Sports Illustrated

Today’s Daily Cover is a profile of Paralympic skier Andrew Kurka, written by Michael Rosenberg:

“Kurka takes a risk every time he competes. But he no longer seeks risk as he once did. He is now in that sweet spot for an athlete, where mental acuity and discipline make up for any lost athleticism.”

Kevin Sweeney breaks down a wild Saturday in men’s college basketball. … The MLS season started over the weekend and before it did, Avi Creditor provided 22 reasons to be interested in the 2022 campaign. 

Around the Sports World

New York City adjusted its vaccine mandate, but Kyrie Irving still isn’t allowed to play in home games. … Highly ranked boxer Vasiliy Lomachenko has joined a Ukrainian defense battalion. … The Lakers got booed off the court after losing another game at home. … Pro Bowl guard Ali Marpet is retiring at age 28. … Amazon is reportedly hoping to hire Kirk Herbstreit for its Thursday Night Football team. 

The top 5...

… things I saw yesterday:

5. Lee Hodges using his putter in a bunker

4. Nikola Jokić’s baffling pass

3. Kelly Olynyk’s fadeaway buzzer beater to win it for the Pistons in overtime

2. Barcelona midfielder Pedri’s slick skills against Atletico Madrid

1. Stephen Curry’s dazzling warmup

SIQ

The Iowa women secured a share of the Big Ten regular season championship yesterday with a 104–80 win over Michigan. Star sophomore Caitlin Clark led the way for the Hawkeyes as she has all season, with 38 points, 11 assists and six rebounds.

It was Clark’s 18th straight game with at least 15 points and five assists. According to ESPN, only two other players in Division-I men or women’s basketball have had such a streak in the past 20 years. Who are they?

• Diana Taurasi
• Russell Westbrook
• Ja Morant
• Arike Ogunbowale
• Trae Young
• Chris Paul

Check tomorrow's newsletter for the answer.

Friday’s SIQ: What now-famous quote did Muhammad Ali first say in the buildup to his first fight against Sonny Liston?

Answer: “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” While Ali would repeat the phrase throughout his career, he first used it to boast that he was going to beat Liston. Then known as Cassius Clay, the 22-year-old was a heavy underdog but had spent the weeks leading up to his first career title fight talking a big game. In the March 9, 1964, issue of Sports Illustrated, Tex Maule wrote that the discussion about the fight in the weeks leading up to it “had centered on the number of minutes Clay could avoid Liston's fearsome left hand.”

In reality, it was Liston who should have been fearful. And, as Maule pointed out, Ali’s words had given him a distinct advantage inside the ropes:

As the round neared its end, the big question was answered. Liston could be lived with. Clay, the braggart who had goaded the champion into coming out for the first round in a mist of destructive rage, could smother and slip and slide away from that rage. Liston was no superman, as many had begun to believe. He might be a deadly puncher, but Clay—a remarkably calm and composed Clay when he came into the ring—was prepared for him, and he was certain that he was not going to be destroyed in the flash of a left hook.

From the Vault: Feb. 28, 1983

Jerry Wachter/Sports Illustrated

I know we just featured another Sixers cover on Friday, but I just love this photo of Julius Erving rising above the rim. And they’re all the rage right now after James Harden’s strong debut over the weekend.

The Harden- and Joel Embiid-led Philadelphia team looks plenty scary, but it probably won’t be nearly as dangerous as Dr. J and Moses Malone’s 1982–83 squad. As the cover alludes to, the Sixers had a real shot at becoming the first team in NBA history to win 70 games. When the magazine hit newsstands, they were 49–7, well within reach of the ’71–72 Lakers’ 69–13 record. But they faltered down the stretch, going 15–10 after March 4.

They turned things around at the most important time, though. Bruce Newman’s cover story references “the playoff woes that have befallen the 76ers in recent years” (they’d lost in the Finals three times in the previous six seasons) but there would be no such struggles in 1983. The Sixers swept the Knicks in the first round of the playoffs, beat the Bucks four games to one and swept the Lakers to claim their first title since ’67.

Check out more of SI's archives and historic images at vault.si.com.