Unable to forge an agreement with the players’ union before a deadline of their creation during a lockout of their making, Major League Baseball’s owners decided Tuesday to do what their commissioner called “disastrous” for the game.
At a ballpark that won’t see major-league players in the immediate future, commissioner Rob Manfred announced the extension of the ongoing lockout and postponed opening day indefinitely from March 31. For the first time since 1995 games will be lost to a work stoppage, and for the first time in the sport’s history a lockout has led to the cancellation of games.