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Major League Baseball announced the cancellation of two more series on Wednesday evening after the owners and the MLB Players Association once again failed to reach a new collective bargaining agreement ahead of a league-imposed deadline. Should those games remain off the table, the owner-initiated lockout will have wiped out four series, or two whole weeks, from the regular season schedule.

The installation of an international amateur draft has emerged in recent days as the most contentious topic on the table. The league offered the union three choices with regards to the draft on Wednesday, then took action to cancel games when the union made a counterproposal.

Predictably, the union and two of its top members, New York Mets right-hander Max Scherzer and shortstop Francisco Lindor, were unhappy with the league's decision to cancel more games.

The MLBPA released the following statement:

The owners' decision to cancel additional games is completely unnecessary. After making a set of comprehensive proposals to the league earlier this afternoon, and being told substantive responses were forthcoming, Players have yet to hear back.

Players want to play, and we cannot wait to get back on the field for the best fans in the world. Our top priority remains the finalization of a fair contract for all Players, and we will continue negotiations toward that end.

Scherzer, for his part, tweeted the following, seemingly in response to the league commenting that the international draft has been in every proposal since July, and was not a last-minute addition to the talks that took place last week in Florida. 

I was in FL. We never offered the Int'l Draft.  We did discuss it, but MLB told us they were NOT going to offer anything for it. At that point, we informed all players & agreed to no draft.

This is MLB muddying the waters & deflecting blame. Fans, pls hang in there with us.

Then there was Lindor, who tweeted the following statement:

The two sides are expected to speak again throughout Thursday. It's worth noting that the league cannot unilaterally set the length of the season, and that such matters have to be negotiated with the union.