​PHILADELPHIA — MLB players and team owners aren’t justfar apart on the specific proposals of ongoing labor talks. They also don’t have remotely the same view on the state of the game.With the collective bargaining agreement expiring in less than five months, bargaining is in a grim state.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementSpeaking separately Tuesday morning with the Baseball Writers Association of America, MLB Players Association interim executive director Bruce Meyer and league commissioner Rob Manfred detailed two very different assessments of the game.Meyer pointedly said that management has spent the last several years “selling negativity” to fans in pursuit of measures such as ahard salary cap, heightened restrictions on amateur entry into the sport, and strict limitations on free-agent contracts.“The supposed stewards of the game have spent an inordinate amount of time trying to convince fans that they don’t have hope, that they shouldn’t have hope, or that the product that they’re paying to consume in record numbers is somehow broken,” Meyer said of the league. “I think it’s perverse.”Manfred, however, said that after seeing positive results from recent changes such as the pitch clock and automatic ball-strike (ABS) system, more action is required, and that fan input is directly influencing its labor proposals to the union.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“Momentum in the game is a great thing. We got that momentum by listening to our fans. And the best way to lose momentum is to stand still,” Manfred said. “We’re doing exactly the same thing that we did with the rule changes. And what fans in a number of our markets are telling us, better half of them, is that there’s a lack of competitive balance in the game. Everything we’ve proposed is focused on addressing that fan concern.”The darkening labor situation is looming over a sport that, at least for now, is indeed enjoying continued increases in attendance and viewership, and rising fan popularity for its top talents.This round of labor bargaining has taken on a far more public tenor than in previous years, with both sides speaking openly and often about it and also pushing their viewpoints on social media. The league has even initiated a “Level the Field” public awareness campaign around its supposed need for a salary cap.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementMeyer said a fast-changing media landscape is responsible for much of that shift in the level of disclosure.“We’re in a different world now,” he said. “Before, there weren’t as many [media] outlets, there weren’t as many writers, and there wasn’t as much social media. But in this round of bargaining, my view is that the more information that is out there, the better.”As that happens, Meyer remains insistent that a salary cap—which the MLBPA has staunchly opposed for decades—remains fundamentally bad for players, calling it “subsidized mediocrity” for team