MLB News

Home

Teams

Quizzes

Watch

Newsletter

MLB games will be canceled if lockout goes past Monday

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

MLB games will be canceled, season shortened if lockout goes past Monday

By Zac Wassink | Last updated Feb 23, 2022 7:36 PM ET

Representatives for MLB owners and the MLB Players Association met for the third consecutive day to attempt to solve financial disagreements linked with the ongoing lockout that began shortly after midnight ET on Dec. 2. Per ESPN's Jeff Passan, the sides aren't relatively close to putting pen to paper on a deal:

Five days before the deadline MLB says will postpone regular-season games, here's the gap between the sides in their latest proposals:

CBT: $31M
Pre-arb bonus pool: $95M
Minimum salary: $135K/player
Draft lottery: 3 picks

That's a lot to cover in less than a week. Like, a lot.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) February 23, 2022

The work stoppage has already forced the cancellation of spring training games through at least March 5, and previous stories claimed regular-season schedules would be impacted if the lockout continued past 11:59 p.m. ET this coming Monday and into the early hours of next month. According to multiple reporters, owners confirmed Wednesday that the lack of an agreement by the end of Monday will result in the cancellation of regular-season contests that won't be rescheduled:

MLB is clear on this point: If there isn’t a deal by Monday, games will be cancelled and will not be made up. The season will be less than 162 games and players will not be paid for a full season, no matter what.
— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) February 23, 2022

As Bob Nightengale of USA Today pointed out, players would, in such a situation, not be paid in full for a shortened campaign:

If the season is shortened, MLB says the players would not be paid in full. If the players are not to be paid in full, the union can turn around and refuse to approve expanded playoffs, a loss of about $100 million in revenue.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) February 23, 2022

Players would lose about $20.5 million in salaries each day the season is delayed, according to an Associated Press study. It's unknown how much the owners would lose each day.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) February 23, 2022

Nightengale added it seems to be a matter of when, not if, additional spring training contests will be scrapped.

While the owners and players are set to talk again Thursday, The Athletic's Evan Drellich repeated others and reminded fans the sides "remain far apart in many important areas" ahead of the Monday deadline:

MLB and MLBPA are set to meet tomorrow, a 4th straight day of meetings in Florida. The union is expected to make a counter proposal in some area (or perhaps areas, although the league made a new proposal in one area today). The sides remain far apart in many important areas.
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) February 23, 2022

According to The Associated Press (h/t ESPN), the MLBPA has not yet agreed to the Monday deadline. That, however, may matter little unless the two sides are at least within reach of an agreement by the last night of February.

In a statement released last week, the MLBPA said: "Nothing requires the league to delay the start of spring training, much like nothing required the league's decision to implement the lockout in the first place."

Opening Day, still scheduled for March 31 as of Wednesday night, is undeniably in serious jeopardy.

Zac Wassink

Zac Wassink is a longtime sports news writer and PFWA member who began his career in 2006 and has had his work featured on Yardbarker, MSN, Yahoo Sports and Bleacher Report. He is also a football and futbol aficionado who is probably yelling about Tottenham Hotspur at the moment and who chanted for Matt Harvey to start the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2015 World Series at Citi Field. You can find him on X at @ZacWassink

More must-reads: