If there is a Major League Baseball season — and that’s an if the size of Pablo Sandoval’s stomach — it’s going to be a short one.

How short? Try 48 to 54 games.

The owners, though, floated a proposal Monday that would offer players potentially 75 percent of their salaries over the course of a 76-game season.

There’s a big caveat, however.

The playoffs would have to be played and completed or a large chunk of that pay will disappear faster than a Clayton Kershaw curveball.

When asked if the proposal had a shot at being accepted, Kevan Smith, a Seneca Valley graduate and catcher for the Tampa Bay Rays, answered with one word.

“Nope.”

That seems to be the sentiment among baseball experts.

So, it appears the only chance at a season will be a (very) short one.

A summer in the MLB has never seen fewer than 106 games. That was the strike year of 1981.

The 1994 season was scuttled by a player’s strike after 114 games.

If a season happens in 2020, it will be a sprint instead of a marathon.

That may be a good thing.

It’s going to be intense, playoff-like baseball from start to finish.

A short season, complete with an expanded playoff field, may give a sad-sack team like the Pittsburgh Pirates some hope.

Any team — even one that looks as weak as the Buccos do on paper — can get hot for a few weeks. In a 54-game season, a few weeks is a pretty big chunk of the season.

There’s an old adage that says a baseball team will win 54 games and lose 54 games — it’s a virtual given. What that team does in the remaining 54 is what determines how good (or bad) they will be.

In a 54-game season, that rule becomes an 18-18-18 one and anything is possible in 18 games.

Baseball in the ‘Burgh may be exciting after all.

And no one thought there would be meaningful baseball played at PNC Park this summer.

Now, the owners and players just need to agree on something.

That’s looking more and more unlikely and the calendar isn’t doing either side much of a favor.

Time is running out — even on a 48- or 54-game season.

Simple math is the issue.

Players want more games to get more pay.

Owners want fewer games so they can pay less. Owners also want some insurance against a second wave of the coronavirus that may end the season.

The sides don’t appear to be even close to a resolution.

And that’s too bad. I, for one, would relish a 50-ish-game season.

It would be 50-ish glorious games. Managers will manage differently. Players will likely play differently with every at-bat and every inning pitched more meaningful.

It will be as if the season started in the middle of a pennant race and every team was still alive.

I hope it happens. Heck, I just hope there’s Major League baseball at all.

I can only watch “Mr. 3000” so many times. (I think I’m at 2,999).

Mike Kilroy is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle.