MLB cancels first two series of 2022 season after proposal rejected

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announced on Tuesday that the league is canceling the first two series of the 2022 season following a failure to reach an agreement with the players on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

MLB had set a Feb. 28 deadline to reach an agreement and extended that deadline to March 1 after the sides started to make progress on a deal. However, after the players unanimously rejected MLB’s last proposal, Manfred announced the cancelation of some games.

Manfred said the first two series of the season would be canceled.

The two sides are heading home from Jupiter, Fla. after negotiating for nine days in attempts to reach a deal.

MLB wants to implement many rule changes that they believe will improve the product, such as a pitch clock and elimination of the shift. They are also trying to address some of the problems, such as service time manipulation and tanking for high draft picks, with new mechanisms, such as the draft lottery.

The big issues seem to the Competitive Balance Tax, which the players want to see elevated significantly. The owners don’t want to raise that number by very much.

“We have a payroll disparity problem,” Manfred said Tuesday.

He does not believe eliminating the CBT would improve the competitive balance of the league.

If the owners are refusing to increase the CBT by a great amount, the players want to see more money come in via the form of pre-arbitration bonus pools. The owners agreed to a $30 million pool, which is an entirely new mechanism.

Photo: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports