ORLANDO, Fla. -- Outside a conference room in the Waldorf Astoria Orlando stood a sign that marked the space as perhaps the most important in all of baseball, unfortunately: “Labor Policy Committee, 2:00,” it read, under the MLB logo.

Team owners meet quarterly in this industry, and their gatherings rarely generate much news. This isn’t the winter meetings, where the convergence of agents and baseball operations leaders result in headline-grabbing deals, or even the GM meetings, when the occasional trade pops up.

But these owners meetings come at a time of disruption and increasing strife in the sport -- and could end with official word that spring training will not start on time.

That particular Labor Policy meeting was not expected to resolve the lockout, but this week, the owners tasked with leading this negotiation -- along with top MLB officials including commissioner Rob Manfred and deputy commissioner Dan Halem -- will continue to strategize next steps.

Fans of the sport, meanwhile, are left to wonder when the simple and typically reliable pleasure of watching baseball will be restored.

The owners locked out the players when the collective bargaining agreement expired on Dec. 1, but the situation did not seem truly dire until last Friday, when the union rejected MLB’s request to retain a federal mediator.

That led to a pointed statement from the league, tweets from players that questioned Manfred’s willingness to negotiate in good faith, and a general sense of toxicity that made agreement seem a distant dream.

Suddenly it felt like 2020, when the players and owners went to war over the terms for returning to play during the first wave of the pandemic.

The sides have yet to meet this week about core economic principles, which in this round of collective bargaining include raising salaries for young players, installing anti-tanking measures, ending service time manipulation and expanding the postseason.

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