JUPITER, Fla. — MLB players and owners took a first step toward saving Opening Day, moving closer to an agreement Friday on the amateur lottery draft during lockout negotiations, which included a surprise meeting between commissioner Rob Manfred and union leader Tony Clark.
While full agreement on the draft was not reached, the talks appeared to gain momentum for the first time.
Talks will continue on Saturday. Major League Baseball has set a Monday deadline for a deal that would guarantee a 162-game season and allow the opening games to go ahead as scheduled on March 31.
MLB also said spring training games have been canceled through March 7. Exhibition games were supposed to start this Saturday but were previously canceled until March 4.
The parties met three times on Friday, in addition to the Manfred-Clark session. That came after four straight days of largely unsuccessful negotiating sessions that focused on exchanging proposals in areas of relative importance.
