Baseball, at this moment, is like the craft of Apollo 13. Badly damaged, drifting, its original mission obsolete; the great plans for what was supposed to be have been scrapped. The question now is whether it can return, through collaboration and imagination.

For Apollo 13, a fight among the astronauts about who got to sit in the middle seat, or who got to leave the capsule first, or who would have future book rights would have been unimaginable and destructive for them all. But in baseball, that's kind of what's happening, with Major League Baseball and the players union currently at loggerheads about the financial terms of a possible return.

Which seems beyond insane under the current circumstances -- tens of thousands of deaths at the hands of the coronavirus pandemic, citizens in fearful lockdown, unprecedented layoffs and unemployment, a devastated economy that may require years to recover.

But this is where baseball stands at the moment behind the scenes, with some of the rancor beginning to drift into public view, with folks on both sides increasingly concerned.