Report: MLBPA Wants to Reopen MLB Lockout Negotiations Around 14-Team Playoff, CBT

The MLB Players Association has reportedly expressed a willingness to potentially accept a 14-team playoff field in order to continue collective bargaining agreement negotiations with Major League Baseball.

According to ESPN's Buster Olney, the MLBPA approached MLB with the idea of reopening talks on expanding the playoff field from 10 teams to 14 teams in hopes that MLB would return the favor by being more flexible on the competitive balance tax and other issues.

Olney added that people on both sides are "hopeful" reopening discussions regarding the playoffs could be a "breakthrough" in terms of agreeing on an overall CBA.

Talks between the MLBPA and MLB broke down earlier this week, which led to MLB canceling the first two series of the 2022 regular season.

ESPN's Jeff Passan reported earlier this week that the MLBPA and MLB negotiated for 16 hours Monday into the early morning hours of Tuesday, which led to MLB extending the deadline for canceling regular-season games to 5 p.m. ET on Tuesday.

Passan noted at the time that while some progress had been made, there were still clear divides between the two sides.

MLB reportedly offered a CBT threshold of $220 million, a minimum salary of $675,000 and a bonus pool of $25 million. That fell short of the CBT threshold of $245 million, minimum salary of $775,000 and bonus pool of $115 million that the players asked for, but it was a better offer than MLB made previously.

The CBT threshold is an especially significant issue since teams must pay a luxury tax if they spend over that amount. The players want it to be higher so as not to deter teams from spending money on player salaries.

Also, MLB proposed a 14-team playoff field, but the MLBPA balked and countered with a 12-team field because of reported concerns about teams getting into the playoffs with poor records and causing them to spend less on players.

Talks resumed Tuesday, but no deal was reached, as the MLBPA rejected what was described as MLB's "best and final offer," per ESPN.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred subsequently announced the cancellation of the first two series of the regular season before saying: "My deepest hope is we get an agreement quickly. I'm really disappointed we didn't make an agreement."

The cancellation of games means teams are likely to play no more than 156 games each in 2022 rather than the usual 162.

Opening Day had been scheduled for March 31, but now it is unclear when the regular season will commence.

The ongoing lockout has also led to the cancellation of many spring training games, which were supposed to start at the end of February.

MLB is now in the midst of the second-longest work stoppage in its history behind only the 1994-95 strike, which resulted in the cancellation of the 1994 World Series.

The sides still have plenty of time to get a deal done and save the season, but more games are in danger of getting canceled if the standoff lasts much longer.