Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred announced on Tuesday that the first two series of the season are canceled due to the lockout.

Because of this, the earliest the Mets will play regular season games is April 7. Opening Day was originally scheduled for March 31.

The Mets first two series of the season were scheduled against the Washington Nationals and Atlanta Braves. New York hosted Washington for three games, then hosted Atlanta for two.

The homestand from March 31-April 5 has been removed from the schedule. The Mets released information to fans who held tickets to Opening Day and the other canceled games.

Fans holding tickets to Mets Opening Day originally scheduled for Thursday, March 31 at Citi Field can use their tickets for admission to the first ticketed 2022 regular season home game at Citi Field following the delay.

Unfortunately, fans who held tickets for the rescheduled Opening Day date cannot use them and will be treated as if the game was canceled.

The remainder of the release can be read here.

If MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association can agree to a deal before March 8, then no additional games will be eliminated from the schedule. But, by cancelling two series and not a unilateral amount of games, there could be a dilemma come the end of the season.

In the National League East, the Mets, Phillies and Nationals are slated to play 157 games. The Braves are scheduled to play 156. The Marlins are scheduled to play 155.

If the division race is tight, the three teams with an extra game could get an advantage in the final standings. In 1972, the Boston Red Sox finished second in the American League with an 85-70 record. The team that finished first, the Detroit Tigers, finished 86-70. This left Boston out of the playoffs because they played one fewer games and finished 0.5 games back.

In the season that followed the 1995 strike, every team played 144 games, which prevented this problem.

The players union is ready to get back to the negotiating table and preserve as much of the baseball season as possible. Let’s hope the sides can come to an agreement and give us all baseball before it’s too late.