MLB

Major League Baseball has canceled opening day, with Commissioner Rob Manfred announcing Tuesday the sport will lose regular-season games over a labor dispute for the first time in 27 years after acrimonious lockout talks collapsed in the hours before management’s deadline.

The sides held a series of short and more frequent meetings that stretched into Sunday night before saying they would resume in the morning.

Major League Baseball has canceled the first week of spring training games through March 4 in the first public acknowledgement of the disruption caused by the lockout.

Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred says spring training remains on hold because of a management lockout and his goal is to reach a labor contract that allows opening day as scheduled on March 31.

Two people familiar with the sport’s Joint Drug Program tell The Associated Press that Major League Baseball has stopped testing players for steroids for the first time in nearly 20 years due to the expiration of the sport’s drug agreement.

Talks between Major League Baseball and the players’ union resumed Thursday, the first negotiations since the lockout began in early December.

Players are nowhere to be found on MLB websites as of Dec. 2. The league said it will remain that way throughout the lockout.

The 1994-95 players strike halted MLB’s season long before many current Major League Baseball players were born. But the current generation of baseball players could be mere weeks from experiencing a work stoppage firsthand.

Shohei Ohtani was unanimiously voted American League MVP on Thursday for a two-way season not seen since Babe Ruth, and Bryce Harper earned the National League honor for the second time.