Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred announced on Tuesday that the league would be canceling its first set of regular season games after players and owners failed to agree on a CBA before the league-imposed deadline.
The news was sad for all fans of the sport, especially when there was some late optimism Monday night/Tuesday morning. But the reports of progress turned out to be an insincere move by the owners to shift blame to the players. And Blue Jays pitcher Ross Stripling revealed just how disingenuous the owners were in the late-stage negotiations.
Stripling, who is the Blue Jays’ player-union rep, said that once the negotiations went past midnight, the owners tried to “sneak” things into the deal that weren’t even discussed. He said via sportsnet.ca:
