Report: MLB says new CBA needed by Feb. 28 for season to start on time

Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) are reportedly still far apart in their negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement and the 2022 season is increasingly in jeopardy of getting postponed.

According to Evan Drellich of The Athletic, the MLB informed the MLBPA that if a deal isn't reached on a new CBA by Feb. 28, the season won't start on time.

That's not much wiggle room and doesn't provide much hope that games will be played on March 31, which is currently scheduled to be Opening Day.

On Thursday, ESPN's Jesse Rogers reported that a bargaining session between MLB and the MLBPA lasted just 15 minutes and "produced little progress." It was just the sixth day of negotiations since players were officially locked out in December.

The current work stoppage is the MLB's first since a strike in 1994-95 that resulted in the cancellation of more than 900 games and the 1994 World Series.