The Major League Baseball lockout purge begins. It started last night when the MLB jumped first and moved forward with a “defensive lockout” ahead of the midnight expiration of the collective bargaining agreement with the MLBPA.

From there, we saw MLB.com websites updated almost immediately, removing any player photos or mentions of any players on their website. It continued today, with the removal of any promotional or marketing materials at stadiums.

The MLBA holds the exclusive worldwide right to use, license, and sublicense the names, nicknames, likenesses, signatures, and playing records of all active MLB players. That of course, brought us to the removal of the Bryce Harper MV3 banner outside of Citizens Bank Park.

The MLB released a statement saying the following in regards to the website updates:

“Until a new agreement is reached, there will be limitations on the type of content we display. As a result, you will see a lot more content that focuses on the game’s rich history. Once a new agreement is reached, the up-to-the minute news and analysis you have come to expect will continue as usual.“

We now get to relive the rich history of the Philadelphia Phillies, a franchise that has made the postseason a mere 14 times since their first professional season in 1883.

Worth noting, the Phillies MLB Shop is still up and running. Nothing stops the MLB money machine right? It’s owned by Fanatics so that’s probably why they can still pump out merchandise with player names but I digress. You should probably just go to our DSGN Tree shop instead and grab some MV3 shirts from there instead.

The entire thing seems petty and honestly, pretty stupid to go through the trouble of removing banners and images from a website. No one gives a shit anyways. Of course, there are legal reasons at stake but it comes off as petty and stupid.

Would have been nice if the residents of South Philadelphia went out and defended the banner like they did to those statues in parks but I digress.

You’re still the MV3 in our eyes, Bryce, CBA or no CBA. Ring it.