Rory Carroll

(Reuters) – Major League Baseball may cancel any games if a labor deal isn’t reached with players by Monday, a source within the league said.

“The deadline is the deadline,” the source told Reuters on Wednesday.

“After Feb. 28 games will be canceled. “Missing games” are games that were not played and salaries will not apply to those games.

The Major League Baseball Players Association didn’t respond to our request for comment.

Because it was possible to have camps open on March 3. It would also allow for spring training for up to four weeks before the regular season’s March 31 start date, 162-game regular seasons.

According to the source, spring training should be completed for a month in order to ensure the safety and health of the players.

Because inter-league play is almost every day and because of the difficulties involved in rescheduling them, MLB won’t reschedule games that have been missed as double-headers. It will only do so when bad weather cancels games.

“Simply stated, we would resume our existing schedule based on the time we’re able to sign an agreement or open camps.”

Players were expelled by the league in December. Both sides will meet this week with the goal of reaching a new collective bargaining deal.

Owners and players are not able to reach an agreement on the service time for free agency and playoff expansion. They also disagree about a possible luxury tax and salary floor.

The deadline was a source of frustration for players who took to the social media platform Wednesday.

Alex Wood from the San Francisco Giants posted, “It is fascinating MLB setting an impossible deadline to play a complete season for Monday.”

They locked us out. Two months after lockout, had not made contact. I have yet to offer any good faith to start real discussions to reach a contract. Make a genuine offer.

MLB’s lockout was the first such work stoppage in MLB since 1994-1995 players’ strike. This dispute caused a premature termination of one season. It also delayed the beginning of next year’s campaign. Fans were turned off, and attendances dropped when play resumed.