Major League Baseball Officially Cancels Start of Season
The start of the 2022 Major League Baseball season is officially delayed, as MLB and the Players’ Association failed to reach an agreement to end the lockout, Tuesday.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced that the season, which had been slated to start March 31, will be delayed. So far, just the first two series’ for each team have been cancelled.
“The calendar dictates that we’re not going to be able to play the first two series of the regular season and those games are officially canceled,” Manfred said.
Manfred had previously said that if an agreement hadn’t come by today on a new collective bargaining agreements, that they would have to cancel some games. A late-night session of negotiations between both sides gave some hope for an agreement today, but the MLBPA announced just before 5 p.m. that they were rejecting the latest proposal.
“My deepest hope is we get an agreement quickly,” Manfred said. “I’m really disappointed we didn’t make an agreement.”
This will be the first time since the strike in the 1994-95 season that Major League Baseball games have been cancelled because of work stoppage.
Manfred also said that the teams will not make up the missed games, reducing the season length from 162 games to 156.