With locked-out pitchers and catchers due to report to camps in a matter of days, and with owners and players far apart on most core economics issues in collective bargaining talks, Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred declined Thursday to officially delay the opening of spring training.
That announcement could come as soon as Saturday, pending the outcome of another bargaining session. But Manfred also made clear what anything other than an on-time start to the regular season would mean for baseball.
“I see missing games as a disastrous outcome for this industry,” Manfred said in a news conference at the conclusion of the owners’ quarterly meetings in Orlando, Fla. “And we’re committed to making an agreement in an effort to avoid that.”
