Pittsburgh Pirates News: Two More Regular Season Series Cancelled

As CBA talks continue to be ugly between MLB and the MLBPA more regular season games have been cancelled

As one of the saddest, darkest periods in the history of Major League Baseball continues more games have now been canceled due to the current lockout. After MLB and the MLBPA could not reach an agreement on a new CBA on Wednesday the third and fourth series of the season have been canceled. Due to this the Pittsburgh Pirates and the rest of MLB will not begin their season until at least April 14th. With this latest rounds of cancellations the Pirates have now lost a three game series at St. Louis, as well as a three game series at home against the Cubs.

This news comes nine days after MLB canceled the first two series of the season. There was hope a new CBA could be reached by Wednesday which would leave the door open for a 162 game season. The plan would have been to extended the regular season by three days with the other three games that had been canceled being made up throughout the season as part of doubleheaders.

With this latest round of cancelations a 162 game season will no longer be doable under any circumstance. At this point, the best case scenario would appear to be a season in the range of 150-156 games. Honestly, with how ugly things have gotten a 150 game season for the Pittsburgh Pirates and the rest of Major League Baseball would likely be looked at as a big success.

At points on Tuesday evening into Wednesday afternoon it appeared that a deal may finally be reached. Unfortunately, things fell apart largely due to MLB pushing for the installation of an international draft.

The MLBPA is vehemently against an international draft. This appears to be the biggest issue that led to the latest breakdown in CBA talks between the two sides. Thankfully, the two sides appear to have closed the gap substantially on key economic issues in the CBA such as the minimum salary and the CBT.

What is most frustrating is that it has been known since last year that installing an international draft was something that MLB and the owners were going to look to do with this CBA. Due to this, the MLBPA should have had plenty of opportunities in the past to express their concerns over the draft.

The one silver lining to come out of this is that it appears the two sides are closer than ever to reaching a deal. Hopefully, a new CBA can be agreed upon sooner rather than later before more games are lost to the lockout. If the season does somehow begin on April 14th, then the Pittsburgh Pirates would open up at home against the Washington Nationals.