Tuesday was a dark day in the MLB. Monday was originally targeted as the last possible date for a lockout resolution before regular season games hit the chopping block, though the league pushed the deadline back after a long day of negotiations. Unfortunately, no deal was reached, and Opening Day has officially been canceled. That wasn't the only bad news that baseball has had to deal with this offseason. Just a month ago, the trial of former Los Angeles Angels employee Eric Kay, who was accused of supplying opioids to deceased pitcher Tyler Skaggs, occurred. While Kay was brought to justice, some discouraging details emerged about players during the trial. Between the trial and the MLB lockout, this offseason certainly hasn't been a good one for the league.

Could it be the worst in league history?

The MLB is already coming from behind in terms of popularity when it comes to the other major sports leagues. What baseball really needed was an offseason filled with progressive change and rapid player movement from team-to-team. What they got instead was a never-ending lockout that paints everybody in a bad light and a trial that implied that MLB players were using opioids in the clubhouse. It's not only bad for publicity, but also fatal for the future survival of the league.

While pretty damning, the MLB can recover from the latter. The former might be the point of no return. Opening Day is canceled. What if the season- and the World Series are canceled? The 1994 strike cut the season short and resulted in no Fall Classic. However, at least there was baseball played that year.

This lockout has been a series of oh-we'll-never-get-to-that-point reassurances. But that point has arrived. Games that matter are officially being canceled. And the collateral damage goes deeper than just the millionaires fighting with billionaires argument.

It's not just that the players, who just enjoyed a pre-lockout spending spree that is perhaps unmatched in league history. It's not just that the owners, famous for penny-pinching, are pinching harder than ever.

It's that neither party seems to care about the fans. The ones who have supported the game through its darkest days- and its brightest.

The sad reality is, if the players and owners truly cared about having a season played on time, it would be played on time. These are dark days for baseball.

Perhaps the darkest ever.