MLB, MLBPA Reach Agreement On New CBA To End Lockout
Mar 10, 2022, 12:23 PM | Updated: 1:00 pm
(Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
(Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
Baseball is back.
After 100 days–the longest work-related stoppage in the league’s history–Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association have reached an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement.
With the agreement, free agency can begin as soon as Thursday night as players are set to begin arriving for Spring Training on Friday.
According to multiple reports, the regular season will begin on April 7th.
The four series that were originally canceled by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred will be rescheduled as nine-inning double-headers.
A three-month offseason’s worth of free-agency moves and trades will transpire over the coming days so that players can find a new home prior to the mandatory report date for Spring Training on March 13th.
Spring Training will last roughly two weeks before teams open up the season just one week later than the original start date of March 31st.
The news of an agreement comes after two weeks of will-they-won’t-they negotiations that twice ended with Manfred canceling regular-season games. Problems continued to surface over the past 48 hours, specifically around the league wanting to implement an international amateur draft.
After late negotiations on Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, the league and players agreed to negotiate on the draft in the coming months.
Per the Associated Press:
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.
Associated Press – March 10, 2022
The MLB submitted a proposal to the players early Thursday, and player reps voted in favor 26-12, per Evan Drellich of The Athletic.
Included in the deal:
- Universal DH: both American and National Leagues. No more “pitchers who rake”.
- 12-team postseason format
- No more seven-inning double-headers. All games are nine innings long.
- The “ghost runner” on second base rule for extra innings is no more.
At long last, following painful negotiations and much uncertainty, baseball is back.
As bad as the past 100 days were for the sport, the next week will be one of the best as a flurry of free-agency moves and trades will fill the sports news feeds before players report to their respective team Spring Training sites in Arizona and Florida.
Buckle up, baseball fans things are about to get very busy around the league.
It’s time to play ball.
