Jay Jaffe blames the owners, noting that the players probably would have agreed to play under a one-year extension of previous agreements until a new one was agreed to.
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-owners-latest-offer-gets-us-no-closer-to-baseball-season/
There's never going to be an agreement until there is pain for not agreeing. Not until there is a threat of lost games and outrage from fans and advertising partners will they sit at a table and start making hard decisions. A one year extension would just have meant doing this next year.
