Major League Baseball has announced that spring training games won't kick off until March 5 at the earliest.

"We regret that, without a collective bargaining agreement in place, we must postpone the start of spring training games," the league said in a statement. "All 30 clubs are unified in their strong desire to bring players back to the field and fans back to the stands.

"We are committed to reaching an agreement that is fair to each side. On Monday, members of the owners' bargaining committee will join an in-person meeting with the Players Association and remain every day next week to negotiate and work hard towards starting the season on time."

Exhibition games were initially scheduled to kick off on February 26.