Major League Baseball set a deadline last night to get a deal done to end the lockout. The two sides talked deep into the night/morning and then MLB extended the deadline until 5 PM today. The sides were unable to get anything done today, so Commissioner Rob Manfred held a press conference a little after 5PM in which he announced that the first two series of the season were now canceled.
For the Pittsburgh Pirates, that means their home series against the St Louis Cardinals, and their first road series against the Cincinnati Reds were now wiped from the schedule. The Cardinals series was the season opener, with a March 31st Opening Day scheduled. The Reds series ran from April 4th through the 6th. It’s a total of six games lost.
We will have more on where the negotiations stand in a recap later. As of right now, there’s no scheduled meeting between the two sides, with Manfred only saying that it won’t happen before Thursday during his conference.
