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MLB and Players Association ‘Deadlocked’ in Talks, League Could Cancel Another Week of Games

Nobody wants the MLB to cancel games. But that could be exactly where we’re headed as the league and the Players Association are “deadlocked” in negotiations.

The MLB and the MLB Players Association (MLBPA) met for approximately an hour and a half on Sunday at the MLBPA headquarters in Midtown, New York. The union officially presented its first proposal since talks broke down back on Tuesday. However, the league came back and released a statement saying that the two sides are at a stalemate. As a result, it’s starting to look more and more like additional regular-season games are in jeopardy.

What You Need To Know

  • Major League Baseball is expected to cancel another week of regular-season games
  • MLB spokesperson says that the league and the Players Association are “deadlocked”
  • The two sides are expected to meet again as early as Monday

We are now heading into the third month of the MLB lockout, Outsiders. That’s obviously news that none of us want to hear. The league already canceled the first two series of the regular season and unfortunately, it looks like even more regular-season games could be on the chopping block here soon. If the cancellations extend into the month of April, it could put the celebration of the 75th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s major-league debut in jeopardy as well.

MLB Lockout Continues

Glen Caplin is the spokesperson for the MLB. He said that the league was hoping to get moving in the right direction on Sunday in their meetings with the Players Association. In the end, however, the MLBPA presented a proposal that was “worse” than the previous one earlier in the week.

“We were hoping to see some movement in our direction to give us additional flexibility and get a deal done quickly,” Caplin explained. “The Players Association chose to come back to us with a proposal that was worse than (last) Monday night and was not designed to move the process forward.”

He added that “they even went backwards on some issues.”

Caplin admitted that the only option was for both sides to go back to the drawing board.

“Simply put, we are deadlocked,” he said. “We will try to figure out how to respond but nothing in this proposal makes it easy.”

Now to the MLBPA side of things. The association’s executive director Tony Clark said they have been open with the league for months.

“For months, we have told the league that players are more than willing to talk about the types of things that you, the league, think that we should be talking about with regard to on-field,” Clark said last week. “That dialogue has been open and available as a part of the overarching conversation for a long time. The fact that it manifested itself in the last 72 hours is strange.”

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