Report: Opening Day in Jeopardy as MLB and MLBPA Continue Tense Negotiations

After another day of tense negotiations, the MLBPA and MLB remain at a stalemate.

Major League Baseball did not respond well to the MLB Players Association’s updated proposal on Saturday, according to multiple reports.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan notes that multiple officials believe that a deal will not get done by the league’s Monday deadline, which would put Opening Day in serious jeopardy.

Following MLB’s reaction to the union’s proposal, the players are now considering walking away from the negotiating table, according to Chelsea Janes of The Washington Post.

Players are currently considering walking away from the table, per a person familiar with their plans. Made what they felt was a substantive offer and owners rejected it. Players furious.

— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) February 26, 2022

No meeting is immediately scheduled for tomorrow between MLB and MLBPA, according to Evan Drellich of The Athletic. If the players do walk away from negotiations with MLB and do not meet tomorrow, it is likely that regular season games would be canceled.

The MLBPA reportedly felt that they made a fair proposal to league owners on Saturday. Janes summarized the offer made by the Players Association to MLB on Twitter.

Players offered to come down from 75 percent of players with two years of service qualifying for arbitration to 35 percent. Currently, 22 percent of players get it.

— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) February 26, 2022

Players offered to come down 2M on the CBT thresholds (which started at 245M) each year from 2023 to 2025. MLB countered by offering to raise the CBT threshold in year two of the agreement from 214M to 215M.

— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) February 26, 2022

Come instead from central revenue.

— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) February 26, 2022

One additional item that has come to the forefront in recent days is the league’s wish to shorten the window for the implementation of on-field rule changes. The league reportedly wants to be able to implement changes with 45 days notice, instead of the current window of one year's notice. That specific item has not been received well by the players, according to Passan.

Bottom line? Things are not looking good for an on-time start to the regular season in late March. As both sides continue to battle over terms of a new collective bargaining agreement, it is likely that baseball will be playing less than 162 games for the second time in the last three seasons.