DENVER — The packed house at Coors Field chanted, “Ohtani, Ohtani,” willing on the Los Angeles Angels two-way star as he attempted to rally during the first round of Monday’s Home Run Derby.

Tuesday, Shohei Ohtani’s scheduled duties included leading off the American League lineup and being the AL’s starting pitcher in the All-Star Game.

From the first All-Star selections of Chicago White Sox players Tim Anderson and Carlos Rodón to the power display put on Monday night by the New York Mets’ Pete Alonso and the Baltimore Orioles’ Trey Mancini to everything Ohtani, plenty of positives have surrounded the last two days in Denver.

But because it’s baseball, there’s always an issue off in the distance. And while one eye is on the field, the other is on the collective bargaining agreement that expires in December.

Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred and MLB Players Association Executive Director Tony Clark provided updates Tuesday morning in separate meetings with members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

“The best I can say is our No. 1 priority is to get to an agreement without a work stoppage,” Manfred said. “It’s just that simple. Every single time since I took over the labor job, that was our No. 1 priority. It’s worked out pretty good so far and it remains our No. 1 priority for now.”

Clark and Manfred noted the dialogue is ongoing.

“A lot to do, a short period of time to do it,” Clark said. “Our goal is to get an agreement done.”

If the fight leading up to the pandemic-shortened 2020 season — during which negotiations became very public — is an indication, then things could get ugly, the thinking goes.

Manfred isn’t buying that argument.

“We have a very professional working relationship with the MLBPA,” he said. “More generally, this whole ‘relationship’ thing gets overplayed and misinterpreted. You’re in a collective bargaining relationship, you’re going to have points in time where you have disagreements and sometimes they get public. I don’t think that’s a good thing, but it happens. It’s the way of the world.

“And agreements get made or not made based on the substance of what’s out there. The fact that you have a period of time, which we admittedly had last spring, where we had serious disagreements that became public I don’t think is really an indicator of whether you’re going to get an agreement. I just don’t believe that.”

Whatever happens, there’s a strong sense that seven-inning doubleheader games and starting extra innings with a runner on second could be on the way out. Both were adopted in 2020 and are in use again this season.

“There’s a lot of things we talked about in terms of changes in the game that we experiment with that we think are long-term objectives,” Manfred said. “Seven-inning doubleheaders are in a different category. It was a COVID-related change. I don’t think that seven-inning doubleheaders are going to be a part of our future going forward.

“I see the extra-inning rule and the seven-inning doubleheader as rules that were adopted based on medical advice to deal with COVID. I think they are much less likely to become part of our permanent landscape than some of the other rules that we’ve talked about over time that relate to how the game’s being played.”

While the best of the best gathered at Coors Field, the conversation about how to put the most entertaining product on the field continues.

“As a player, we will do everything that we can to protect the game we love,” Clark said. “There’s a business component to this, but I’m telling you as a player, our respect, love and passion for the game is unrivaled.

“Players are willing to talk about adjustments, the best ways to move the game forward. Players are also interested in protecting the integrity of what the game has always been. Protecting what the game’s been and advancing it.”

Among the possibilities Manfred addressed Tuesday are banning or limiting defensive shifts, adding the designated hitter in the National League and having umpires explain video review decisions over ballpark public address systems.

Anderson has ideas on what he would do if he ran things.

“I’m just going to allow the players to be themselves,” the White Sox shortstop said. “Bring swag to the game, bring your jewelry, bring everything. Bat flips, I’m allowing all that. Anything goes.”