Major League Baseball looks to federal mediator to help end sport's lockout, sources say

Major League Baseball on Thursday requested the immediate assistance of a federal mediator to help resolve the sport's lockout, sources told ESPN, potentially inserting the presence of a neutral party to end a work stoppage now in its third month.

The league reached out to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, a governmental agency that attempts to help resolve labor disputes, sources said.

Mediation is not mandatory, and the MLB Players Association would need to agree to the involvement of a third party.

MLB locked out players on Dec. 2 after the sides could not reach an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement.

Since then, the sides have met four times. None of the four has provided significant traction toward a new collective bargaining agreement after more than a quarter century of labor peace.