WATCH: MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred Has a Shocking Response to Why Lockout Negotiations Started Late

The past three-four months have definitely not been good for baseball fans and players. Due to the ongoing lockout, along with players, the game of baseball is also suffering from the financial fight between the owners and players. Earlier on Tuesday, when the deadline given by the owners expired, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred canceled two series games for each team.

After days of negotiation between the two parties earlier this week, the MLB owners had given a deadline to the players’ union to get the agreement done. Which the players’ union didn’t accept. 

The past 10 days in MLB have been hectic for both sides. But why did the negotiation start so late? And who else can answer it better than the MLB Commissioner himself? 

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred’s Shocking Response to Why the Negotiations Started Late

Notably, the MLB owners had imposed lockout in the first week of December. And on March 2, it marked the three-month anniversary of work stoppage. Had the negotiations started earlier, the current situation in Major league Baseball would have been completely different.

But the owners and the players’ union, both, remained silent for over two and a half months. And now, when the next season was just a month away, the owners started the negotiations.

Earlier on Tuesday, during the media address of Manfred, a journalist asked the same question to MLB Commissioner. However, Manfred had no obvious answer to the concerned query.

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“Understanding that deadlines create urgency, you locked out the players to jump-start the negotiations. It feels like real bargaining went on just in the last 24 to 36  hours,” the reporter asked Manfred. “I’m sure people are wondering why not over the last three months or even longer to get to a point where you are not necessarily canceling games because there’s some momentum here.”

Responding to this, Manfred literally had no obvious answer. As he escaped the question by saying that the committee has been bargaining for the last 10 days.

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“Yeah, I think the best answer to that question is the last 10 days. We’ve been here ready to bargain full committee’s owners’ players for 10 days,” Manfred answered. “And it got going two days before the deadline. You know, that’s the best explanation I can give.”

Given that the players’ union is yet to agree to the new CBA deal, only time will tell when the baseball fans will get their chances to see games in the ballparks.