Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association have agreed to a deal on salary and service-time issues, allowing baseball to prepare for a season delayed indefinitely by the coronavirus pandemic, according to sources.

The agreement came after nearly two weeks of negotiations that involved players, owners, agents, executives, union officials and commissioner's office staff.

Both sides want to play as many games as possible, with an eye on returning to training camps in mid-May and starting games as early as June -- even if they are played with no fans in attendance.

The flexibility of both sides was seen in the willingness to extend the regular season into October, play neutral-site playoff games in November and add doubleheaders to the schedule.

Players pushed to receive, and did win, a full year of service time, which counts days toward free agency, arbitration and pension, even in the event of a canceled season.