News Flash: Baseball To Shorten Season

For the second straight year, baseball will have a shortened season - at least as far as the real major leaguers are concerned.

And a scenario is starting to develop that could extend the fighting into 1996.

Because no bargaining sessions took place last week, there’s no chance for striking major leaguers to return and play a full 162-game regular season.

Union head Donald Fehr said talks may resume Tuesday or Wednesday. But even if a deal is reached by the end of this week, the soonest players could be ready for games is April 16, assuming three weeks of workouts and exhibition games.

But that’s only the quickest possible way out of the longest work stoppage in the history of U.S. sports.

Many scenarios are much worse. The National Labor Relations Board is expected this week to give general counsel Fred Feinstein permission to seek a preliminary injunction against the owners in U.S. District Court in New York, restoring salary arbitration, free-agent bidding and anticollusion rules.

The judge would hold a hearing, probably the week of March 27. A decision would come that week or the week of April 2.

Mariners 8, Rockies 3

At Tucson, Ariz., Manny Cora had two hits and drove in three runs, leading Seattle past Colorado in a replacement-player game.

Jeff Sellers, who pitched for Boston in the late 1980s, gave up five runs and six hits in 1 innings.