ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Major League Baseball and its locked-out players agreed Thursday to negotiate on an international amateur draft, paving the way for renewed economic talks.

Under an agreement reached on the 99th day of a lockout that has delayed the season, the sides agreed to a July 25 deadline to establish an international draft that would start in 2024.

More Major League Baseball games have been canceled as the sport’s lockout continues.

The Tampa Bay Rays’ first two home series, against the Orioles and A’s, are among the games wiped out after talks between players and MLB stalled again.

Opening Day has been pushed back to April 14 at the earliest.

Talks aimed at ending the lockout bogged down on the draft issue Wednesday, and baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred canceled 93 more games, raising the total to 184. He said opening day, originally scheduled for March 31, would be no earlier than April 14.

The sides narrowed many economic differences to a small margin, when the international draft obstacle caused MLB to refuse to counter the union’s latest overall proposal.

Under the deal reached Thursday, if a negotiated agreement on a draft is reached by July 25, direct amateur draft-pick compensation would be removed for free agents starting with the 2022-23 offseason.

If the sides do not reach an agreement by July 25, direct amateur-draft pick compensation would remain in place.

“The PA awaits a counter from the league to its global proposals made at 1 p.m. yesterday,” the union said in a statement.

While Manfred did not use the word “canceled” to describe the games wiped off the calendar, he left the appearance 162 games no longer could be played due to baseball’s ninth work stoppage, its first since 1995.

“We were talking these last few days about taking those first two series and finding a way to get them back in the schedule,” Arizona Diamondbacks President Derrick Hall said. “From what I’m hearing now, these four series are out.”

Players dropped their threshold for the luxury tax to $232 million this year, with increases to $235 million in 2023, $240 million in 2024, $245 million in 2025 and $250 million in 2026.

Players had been at $238 million to $263 million in their previous proposal of a week earlier. They were within 2.5% of management’s starting figure of $230 million in Tuesday’s proposal. Players were within 3.2% of MLB’s $242 million proposal for 2026.

Management’s desire for an additional fourth tax threshold at $60 million above the first threshold is among the contentious points remaining.

Players dropped to $65 million from $80 million for their proposed bonus pool for pre-arbitration-eligible players, a day after MLB raised its offer from $30 million to $40 million. The union is asking for $5 million annual increases, while management’s offer is the same for all five years.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.