MLB’s spring training will not begin until at least March 18, the league announced on its website. Earlier, the exhibition was canceled until March 11.
This is not a surprising delay, as it is unlikely that there will be a new collective agreement to start earlier in the Spring Training Games. It looks like there will probably be at least a week between the finalization of a new CBA and the start of the spring training games. Teams will still need some time to do the rest of their off-season work. Players will need at least a few days to report to the camps before diving into the game.
MLB Deputy Commissioner Dan Hallem and union chief negotiator Bruce Meyer met informally yesterday, but John Heyman of the MLB Network wrote (a Facebook link) that the sittings “provide little to the way forward.” The League and the Players’ Association have no further talks planned at the moment – although Ken Rosenthal of Athletic tweets this morning that the MLBPA is currently preparing a counter-offer to MLB’s latest proposal. Talks are expected to resume soon, and we hope that the reported readiness of the union to re-discuss the playoffs with 14 teams can boost negotiations.
Of greater concern for most of the early spring preparations is when the regular season will begin. The league has so far canceled the first two series of the regular season, with the league’s website indicating April 7 as the date for the first scheduled races. It seems likely that this will soon be further postponed, as Commissioner Rob Manfred has indicated that he wants a four-week spring training period (from the start of player reporting, not from the start of the first game of spring training). MLB announced the cancellation of the scheduled opening day on March 31 30 days in advance. There are 34 days remaining until April 7.