© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The empty lot and stands at Nationals Park, home of Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Washington Nationals, are seen after it was reported that MLB owners have approved a plan that could trigger the season delayed by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak has
Par Rory Carroll
(Reuters) – Major League Baseball will cancel games if a labor agreement being negotiated with its players is not finalized by Monday, a league source said.
“The deadline is the deadline,” the source told Reuters on Wednesday.
“After February 28, matches will be cancelled. Missed games are missed games and the salary will not be paid for these games. »
The Major League Baseball Players Association did not respond to a request for comment.
The date was chosen because it would allow camps to open March 3 and provide four weeks of spring training before the scheduled March 31 opening day of the 162-game regular season.
A month of spring training is necessary to protect the health and safety of the players, the source said.
Due to interleague games taking place almost daily and the challenges of rescheduling those games, MLB will not reschedule missed games as double headers as it does when games are canceled due to bad time.
“Put simply, we would resume the existing schedule depending on when we are able to ratify an agreement and open camps. »
The league locked out players in early December and the parties are meeting this week in hopes of hammering out a new collective bargaining agreement.
Among the issues in the current dispute are owners and players disagreeing on service time heading into free agency, playoff expansion, a luxury tax and possible salary floor, and several changes proposed rules.
Players took to social media on Wednesday to express their frustration over the deadline.
“Fascinating that MLB is setting a tough deadline to play a full season on Monday,” San Francisco Giants pitcher Alex Wood tweeted.
“They locked us out. We had hardly any contact for two months after the lockdown. I have yet to make a single good faith offer to even start real conversations to get a deal done. Just make a real offer. »
The lockout is MLB’s first work stoppage since the 1994-95 players’ strike. This dispute forced the premature end of a season, delayed the start of the following year’s campaign, and turned off fans, with attendance dropping when play finally resumed.
