Monday represents a huge day in the MLB-union standoff

Opening Day, as currently scheduled for March 31, appears to be down to its final out.

When Major League Baseball and the Players Association reconvene Monday at Roger Dean Stadium for the eighth consecutive day of labor negotiations in Jupiter, Florida, that meeting is expected to be their last chance to preserve an on-time start to the season as well as play a full 162 games.

Commissioner Rob Manfred unilaterally set the Feb. 28 deadline to forge a new collective bargaining agreement, citing the need for a month of spring training, but it is unclear what exactly will happen beyond that date if a deal is not reached.

Players have refused to acknowledge Manfred’s deadline throughout this process, dismissing it as just another strong-arm labor strategy similar to the lockout implemented on Dec. 2. Either way, Monday seems to have been treated as a critical milepost for these protracted negotiations. Sunday was the longest session of this Florida week, stretching more than six hours.

Even so, it does not seem as if enough was accomplished Sunday to get a deal done by the deadline. While the discussions were better than Saturday’s often-contentious conversations, according to multiple reports, the two sides have been unable to bridge the sizable distance that exists on a number of issues.

At the forefront is the competitive balance tax, salary arbitration eligibility (along with the bonus pool money for pre-arbitration players) and a minimum-salary scale. The two sides have swapped proposals on those core economic matters, including as recently as Saturday, but there was no breakthrough movement on those topics Sunday, according to a source.

The CBT has become a particularly difficult obstacle this time around. The two sides have been unable to find much common ground with either the payroll tiers or the tax-rate penalties, and it’s not hard to understand why. The owners want to keep their big-spending brethren in check, and instituting what amounts to a cap on payrolls is the method they’re defending.

When pushed for a counterproposal Saturday, MLB moved a total of $1 million for the second of the CBA’s five years, leaving the tiers at $214 million, $215M, $216M, $218M and $222M. The management side did trim some off the tax rates, however, going down to 45% (from 50) for the first tier, 62% (from 75) for the second and 95% (from 100) for the third.

The union has stood firm on its own CBT numbers, requesting $245 million to start and escalating to $275 million by Year Five with the same tax rates as the expired CBA (beginning at 20%). MLB sounds nowhere near that ask, and Manfred repeatedly has stated the importance of the CBT to owners across the board.

As for salary arbitration for players between two and three years of service time, the union has dropped its most recent proposal to 35% eligibility among that group. The owners have not moved from the current 22%. The bonus pool for pre-arbitration players also features a wide gap, with the union suggesting $115 million and MLB countering with $20 million.

But those are only the biggest hurdles. There are others.

While progress has been made on a draft lottery, the Players Association will not agree to having that contingent on MLB’s desire for a 14-team expanded playoffs (the most the union will sign off on is 12).

Also, the union has bristled at MLB’s recent request for flexibility regarding on-field rule changes that asks for only 45 days’ notice upon review by a committee. Currently, the two sides must agree on those changes or it can be done unilaterally by management after one year’s notice.

After a surprising lack of urgency for much of their time together this past week at Roger Dean Stadium, the vacant spring training home of the Cardinals and Marlins, MLB and the Players Association stepped up the intensity over the past 72 hours.

Not all of that was a positive. The union was so angered Saturday by what it perceived to be inflexibility on MLB’s part that the group required a few hours to decide whether to return Sunday.

But the Players Association did show up as scheduled at 1 p.m., and the two sides plan to start earlier Monday. Whether that will make a difference remains to be seen. But Opening Day, and the full 162-game season, very well could depend on it.

By David Lennon

dave.lennon@newsday.comDPLennon

David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.