Major League Baseball (MLB) commissioner Rob Manfred canceled 93 more games on Wednesday, adding pressure on locked-out players and ending hopes of a full 162-game schedule.
Major League Baseball has announced that two additional series of games have been canceled, pushing back the season start date to April 14. This brings the total of canceled meetings to 184 over the season of 2,430 games. This equates to 7.6% of the season.
“In a last-ditch effort to preserve a 162-game season, we have made good faith proposals this week that address specific concerns raised by the players’ union and which would have allowed players to return to the field immediately,” said Manfred through a statement.
“Due to the logistical realities of the schedule, two more series are being pulled from the schedule, which means opening day is moved to April 14.”
Negotiators representing the locked out players presented their latest counter-offer to Major League Baseball officials earlier today after Manfred missed his deadline in a last-ditch attempt to salvage the holding a full season of 162 games.
The two sides talked for 4.5 hours, until 3 a.m. Wednesday morning, before breaking off the talks to allow the union to hold a conference call with its executive board in the morning.
Then Bruce Meyer, chief union negotiator, and Ian Penny, general counsel, negotiated the three blocks in a wintry mix of rain and snow to deliver the proposal to the Major League Baseball office, before returning to their headquarters.
In this proposal, players have lowered their threshold for the luxury tax to $232M this year and, gradually, to $250M in 2026.
Last week, player bids ranged from $238m to $263m for the same period.
As for the amount available for players who do not yet have access to arbitration, the union has lowered the required amount from $80 million to $65 million. On the owners’ side, on Tuesday they increased their offer in this case from $30 million to $40 million.
On this 98th day of the lockout, Major League Baseball authorities have announced that no additional games have been postponed and that talks will continue.
They also presented, on Tuesday, proposals to players on other key financial elements such as the luxury tax and minimum wages.
Major League Baseball also insisted on its long-standing goal of establishing an international amateur draft, a concept opposed by the Players’ Association and which remains an obstacle to reaching an agreement.
Tuesday’s deadline was the third set by the LMB in the past two weeks.
Manfred had initially identified the date as February 28 to preserve the opening matches being held on March 31. After 16.5 hours of negotiations that began Feb. 28 in Jupiter, Fla., ended at 2:30 a.m. the next morning and led to progress, Manfred extended that deadline to 5 p.m. the following day.
The talks broke down and Manfred announced that the first two sets of matches for each team had been called off. Negotiators returned to New York and resumed talks the following Sunday.
Although there appears to be no chance that opening day will take place on the day originally scheduled, the LMB advised the union that Tuesday was the last possible day to reach an agreement that would allow the holding of a modified calendar of 162 games, with full salary for the players and the recognition of years of seniority with a view to autonomy.