When the Major League Baseball Players Association was asked how long they’re prepared to sit out, executive committee member Andrew Miller promptly replied.

“We’re prepared,” Miller said.

At the conclusion of 10 days of intense back and forth, the players union and Major League Baseball failed to make a deal on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement thus forcing the cancellation of games due to a work stoppage for the first time in 27 years. MLB claims they made their “best and final offer” the players union laughs at that assumption.

“This has been in the making for years,” Mets pitcher and MLBPA executive subcommittee member Max Scherzer said.

The owners failed to meet the player’s demands across the board from the collective bargaining, tax to minimum player salaries, to a pre-arbitration bonus pool.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred referred to the lockout as “defensive.” The MLBPA responded with a statement saying the lockout “is, in fact, the culmination of a decades-long attempt by owners to break our Player fraternity. As in the past, this effort will fail. We are united and committed to negotiating a fair deal that will improve the sport for Players, fans and everyone who loves our game.”

Tony Clark, the executive director of the MLBPA, said “a lockout is the ultimate economic weapon.”

“In a $10 billion industry the owners decided to use this weapon against the greatest asset they have – the players,” Clark added.

Now with the cancellation of games, the owners will not be paying players their game checks and their salaries will be lessened. Manfred stated they have no intention of doing so and there is currently no plan to make up the games in the schedule.

The earliest the season could realistically start is April 8. That’s if the sides agree to a deal before March 8. The union is ready to get back into the negotiating room tomorrow but the league is leaving Florida and heading back to their New York offices.

This could have been avoided. The MLBPA sent proposals as early as last April regarding the CBA but MLB ignored them. They also send a proposal the day after the lockout began and were promptly ignored for 43 days by the ownership contingent. Now the MLB-imposed lockout with the MLB-imposed negotiation deadline has been reached and the worst possible result has happened.

The players union is ready to fight for the betterment of future players in the sport. Scherzer who will make over $40 million this season explained how they’re trying to do it through their proposals.

“We came into these negotiations understanding that the landscape across the game has changed. Young players more than ever are entering the game and producing at high levels. We as players want to address that,” Scherzer said. “We want to raise the level of competition relative to revenues so that they better reflect that compensation level. So as we navigate through the process we still feel that there’s dollars to be allocated for their contributions on the field more than what’s on the table.”

The sides are presently $25,000 apart on minimum salaries and $10,000 on raises per year. The largest difference is the amount for a pre-arbitration bonus pool. The union wants $85 million allocated while the league wants only $30 million.

“The game has suffered damage for a while now. The game has changed. The game has been manipulated,” Clark said. “Players have been commoditized in a way that’s really hard to explain in the grand scheme.”

One of the main ways the union seeks to increase competition is through the competitive balance tax. The players want to see it raised to $230 million this season and over $260 million by 2026. The league wants it to be $230 million in 2026.

Part of the competition issue that was fought and eventually agreed upon is the number of playoff teams. The league looked for 14 playoff squads while the union wanted at most 12.

“We didn’t understand why they didn’t want to take us up on a more competitive format,” Scherzer said.

Ultimately the sides agreed upon a 12-team format.

No meeting has been scheduled for when the sides will meet again. The PA doesn’t want more games to get canceled and they’re ready to negotiate. Any delay would be the fault of the league.

Manfred laughed and smiled right before announcing the cancelation of games. The players, like they’ve shown all winter, are ready to make things work. It’s up to the owners to decide if they want baseball.