MLB and Union Are Still Far Apart on Eve of Deadline

JUPITER, Fla. — Monday is judgment day. At least, from one point of view.

Major League Baseball’s regular season is scheduled to start March 31. But after making little progress toward a new labor deal with the players’ union, the league doubled down on its position with a threat last week, and that start date appears to be in peril.

M.L.B., which locked out the players on Dec. 2, told the union on Wednesday that it was serious about its self-imposed deadline, Monday, for reaching a new collective bargaining agreement in order to begin the 162-game season as scheduled. If that deadline was not met, the league said, it would begin canceling games, not pay players for those missed games and not reschedule them.

So the baseball world, already frozen, waits. Will the 11th hour spur compromise, or will the sides remain entrenched? Will M.L.B. follow through on its ultimatum, or could the league’s stance soften in the final hours before the deadline?

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/27/sports/baseball/mlb-lockout-deadline.html