After an extension of Monday’s informal deadline, Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association were unable to strike a new collective bargaining agreement on Tuesday that would end the owner-imposed lockout. MLB, which set a 5 p.m. ET deadline on Tuesday for a deal, made what it called its “final” offer Tuesday afternoon, which was unanimously rejected by the union. Soon thereafter, commissioner Rob Manfred announced in a press conference that regular season games will be canceled.
Manfred said the first two series of the 2022 season will not be played as scheduled. Opening Day was originally scheduled for March 31.
“I had hoped against hope I wouldn’t have to have this press conference where I am going to cancel some regular season games,” Manfred said Tuesday afternoon. “We worked hard to avoid an outcome that’s bad for our fans, bad for our players and bad for our clubs. Our failure to reach an agreement was not due to a lack of effort by either party.”
Tuesday marked the three-month anniversary of the lockout, and the next step is uncertain. Manfred said the sides will regroup at some point and continue negotiations in New York.
Representatives from both sides arrived on site in Jupiter, Florida, around 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday and met face-to-face for the first time around 1:30 p.m. after the players had a conference call to discuss their proposal, per The Athletic’s Evan Drellich. Although optimism prevailed following Monday’s marathon 16-hour bargaining session, Tuesday occasioned a step back.
The two sides appear to be the farthest apart on what the Competitive Balance Tax (CBT) on payrolls will look like moving forward. The CBT, which has come to function like a salary cap of sorts, has in the past mandated penalties for teams that cross certain payroll levels. The union would of course prefer those levels to be much higher than what the league is proposing.
That, however, is not the only substantive issue that needs to be resolved. There’s still a divide when it comes to the minimum salary and the size of a theoretical bonus pool for pre-arbitration players. While everything is still fluid on all fronts until an agreement is reached, a 12-team playoff does seem likely moving forward.
MLB had originally created a Monday (Feb. 28) deadline to reach an agreement before canceling regular-season games and postponing 2022 Opening Day. CBS Sports has provided a timeline of the lockout here, but the short version is that the owners placed the padlocks on when the previous CBA expired on Dec. 1 — exactly three months ago. They were under no obligation to do so, but it was labeled as a defensive maneuver. The league then waited more than six weeks to make its first proposal.
CBS Sports is providing live updates of Tuesday’s talks. You can follow along below.
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First week of the season is called off
Manfred is only calling off the season’s first week for now, saying teams will not play their first two scheduled series on the original 2022 schedule. This leaves the door open for an Opening Day as early as April 8, but that would require a deal in the coming days.
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Players union responds
The MLBPA releases a statement saying players and fans are “disgusted, but sadly not surprised” by Tuesday’s news.
“What Rob Manfred characterized as a ‘defensive lockout’ is, in fact, the culmination of a decades-long attempt by owners to break our Player fraternity. As in the past, this effort will fail,” the statement reads.
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Let’s check in with Evan Longoria
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About the fans…
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Manfred about to speak
Will the MLB commissioner officially cancel 2022 Opening Day? He’s about to speak to reporters in Jupiter, Florida. It’s unclear if Manfred will take questions or just make a statement.
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Let’s check in on Lance McCullers Jr.
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MLB deadline will pass without deal
There will not be a deal before MLB’s 5 p.m. ET deadline, and it doesn’t seem like we’ll get a repeat of Monday night’s into-the-night negotiation session. So what happens now? It’s unclear, but MLB could make a statement and officially postpone Opening Day in the coming hour.
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Spoiler: They won’t.
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If nothing else
Let’s hope the teams do right by their seasonal employees (stadium workers, for example) and pay them in full. It’s easy to get caught up in player vs. owner, but the existence of Major League Baseball makes money for a lot of people not fighting here. It trickles down to local businesses, too (think about sports bars across the street from ballparks, for example, where their biggest days of the year are gamedays).
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No surprise…
We could be about an hour away from MLB announcing the postponement of 2022 Opening Day. The owner-imposed lockout, which began with six weeks without a proposal from the league, turns three months old today and could stretch on for a while longer.
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MLB awaits union response
The 5 p.m. “deadline” lingers as MLB waits to hear back from the union after the league made its “best” offer. With substantial differences in the CBT and the pre-arbitration bonus pool, it seems highly unlikely the union would agree to a deal with these financials.
If MLB cancels regular season games, it will be the first time since 1995 that a season has been altered by a work stoppage.
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More player reaction
Players continue to respond to MLB’s claim that the union changed its tone since last night. Here’s James McCann of the Mets.
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MLB prepping ‘final’ offer
MLB appears ready to give the MLBPA what it’s calling its “final” offer. Ninety minutes remain before the arbitrary 5 p.m. ET deadline.
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Latest CBT numbers
Here are the Competitive Balance Tax numbers the union proposed in its latest offer. MLB is seeking a threshold of $220M, per reports.
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A player says …
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