The most seismic moment of MLB’s lockout is approaching.
A week of intensive negotiations in Jupiter, Florida, has not produced an agreement, and the league’s deadline for fitting spring training in before the planned March 31 regular season openers is here. After sowing distrust, slow-playing talks and stonewalling player proposals, commissioner Rob Manfred could see the “disastrous” outcome of missing games become reality. The league reportedly opened Monday's crucial day of bargaining by expressing a willingness to miss a month of games.
Manfred’s record of avoiding labor-induced schedule disruptions — which he touted in a prickly answer to reporters in early February — is barreling toward its first blemish.