Major League Baseball and the players union have spent the past week in Jupiter, Fla., negotiating in hopes to end the MLB lockout and welcome the start of the baseball season. Unfortunately, that wait for baseball is going to continue without an end in sight.
MLB owners self imposed a Monday deadline to come to an agreement with the union, and those talks went into the early Tuesday morning hours with optimistic reports emerging from the league. It was all part of MLB’s plan. though.
Come Tuesday, the league said it would make one take-it-or-leave-it offer to the players or else it would start canceling games. Along with the ultimatum, the league suddenly said that the tone amongst MLB players had shifted for the worse. MLB players disputed that claim, saying that the league wanted to inspire optimism from Monday just to shift blame to the players when a deal didn’t happen.
FWIW MLB has pumped to the media last night & today that there’s momentum toward a deal. Now saying the players tone has changed. So if a deal isn’t done today it’s our fault. This isn’t a coincidence. We’ve had the same tone all along. We just want a fair deal/to play ball.
— Alex Wood (@Awood45) March 1, 2022
The two sides were far apart all along as the league waited 40-plus days to send an initial offer and remained unwilling to make concessions to players despite soaring revenues. So, when the MLBPA unanimously rejected the league’s “final offer,” it meant that the game was headed for a costly, self-inflicted stoppage.
BREAKING: MLBPA player leaders agreed unanimously not to accept MLB's final proposal, and there will be no deal on a new collective-bargaining agreement before MLB's 5 p.m. ET deadline, sources tell ESPN.
MLB has threatened to cancel its March 31 Opening Day without a new deal.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 1, 2022
Plenty of fans recognized exactly what Rob Manfred and the league were doing there. They were not happy … to say the least.