Major League Baseball’s (MLB) 2022 will lose several regular-season games after a failed lockout deal between the league and MLB Players Association, Commissioner Rob Manfred announced on Tuesday. The opening day has been cancelled. 

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MLB will lose games for the first time in 27 years over a labour dispute. The acrimonious lockout talks between the authorities collapsed in the hours before management’s deadline.

Making the announcement, commissioner Manfred said that he is  canceling the first two series of the season, which was set to begin on March 31. The schedule will drop from 162 games to likely 156 games at most, he said, adding that the league and union have not made plans for future negotiations.

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“I had hoped against hope I wouldn’t have to have this press conference where I am going to cancel some regular season games. We worked hard to avoid an outcome that’s bad for our fans, bad for our players and bad for our clubs. Our failure to reach an agreement was not due to a lack of effort by either party,” Manfred said Tuesday afternoon.

The union and league negotiated in 13 sessions over 16 1/2 hours Monday. MLB sent the players’ association a “best and final offer” Tuesday on the ninth straight day of negotiations.

Players rejected that offer, setting the stage for MLB to follow through on its threat to cancel opening day.

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“Nothing to look forward to on opening day, normally a spring standard of renewal for fans throughout the nation and some in Canada, too,” Manfred added. 

The ninth work stoppage in baseball history will be the fourth that causes regular season games to be canceled, leaving Fenway Park and Dodger Stadium as quiet in next month as Joker Marchant Stadium and Camelback Park have been during the third straight disrupted spring training.