Good afternoon, everyone. I had hoped against hope that I would not have to have this particular press conference,

in which I am going to cancel some regular season games.

The clubs and our owners fully understand just how important it is to our millions of fans that we get the

game on the field as soon as possible.

To that end, we want a bargain and we want an agreement with the players association as

quickly as possible.

That is the Commissioner of Major League Baseball, Rob Manfred,

announcing that both opening day and the first 90 games of the regular season in total

are all getting wiped off the calendar,

extending this lockout and infuriating the players in ways that we have very seldom seen.

So today, a sleepless Jeff Passon takes us inside how negotiations even got to this point.

Who is actually at fault?

And what it might take for the national pastime to be saved?

I'm Pablo Torre. It's Thursday, March 3rd.

This is ESPN Daily.

So Jeff Pass, and before we get into the actual, like, meat of this conversation,

I feel like I need to perform a wellness check on you. Like, how are you doing?

When was the last time you slept? I slept one hour last night. Do I look like it?

Jeff, I mean, that simultaneously feels medically dangerous. Yes. Burging on the definition of insanity as you were want to do.

And also somehow even more than I thought, you have been working nonstop in a way that is just unsettling to me at this point.

Yeah, I would say unsettling is probably the right word.

You know, if I had slept more than one hour,

...