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Instead of yielding the strike deadline that many observers expected, a four-hour meeting of the Major League Baseball Players Association in Chicago yesterday produced a decision to hold off on setting a deadline until at least Friday. Citing continuing progress on several key issues (see WIT?s for May 15, and Aug. 8, 2002), and a new offer from management on its demands for a luxury tax that has been one of the main points of contention in the talks, representatives from the thirty major-league teams decided that a solution may be possible without the pressure of a strike deadline (see WIT for July 9, 2002). A settlement on the issue of revenue sharing may be close---with players offering to agree to the amount sought by owners in return for a method of distribution that the union prefers---and movement towards a compromise has even begun on the luxury tax that the lead negotiator for management has characterized as a potential deal breaker.