JUPITER, Fla. (AP) – With one day left before Major League Baseball’s deadline to salvage a March 31 start to the regular season, representatives for the league and union paused exchanging formal proposals Sunday and instead held a series of small meetings probing for what it would take to reach a deal.
The sides head into Monday’s league-mandated deadline day set to negotiate for the eighth straight day, which is progress given they had just s ix sessions on central economics from the start of the lockout through Feb. 20.
They were still far apart, but pressure is increasing. Players would lose $20.5 million in salary for each day of the season that is canceled, according to a study by The Associated Press, and the 30 teams would lose large sums that are harder to pin down.
Talks at Roger Dean Stadium, the spring training home of the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals, recessed around 7 p.m. Sunday and are set to resume at 10 a.m. Monday, an earlier start time than other meetings over the past week.
MLB has said Monday, the 89th day of the lockout, is the last day to reach a deal that would preserve a 162-game schedule, but it has not fixed an exact time to the deadline. That leads to the possibilty of bargaining sessions stretching into the wee hours if both sides see a deal within reach.