Major League Baseball’s self-imposed 5 p.m. ET deadline came and went without a deal with the players association, and as a result, commissioner Rob Manfred announced that the regular season will not begin as scheduled. The season was set to begin on Thursday, March 31, but the league has canceled the first two series of the year.
“I had hoped against hope I wouldn’t have to have this press conference where I am going to cancel some regular season games,” Manfred said Tuesday. “We worked hard to avoid an outcome that’s bad for our fans, bad for our players and bad for our clubs. Our failure to reach an agreement was not due to a lack of effort by either party.”
The news eliminates between five and seven games for each of the league’s 30 teams.
