Breaking News: Lockout Ends/Baseball is Back!
Moments ago, Major League Baseball and MLB Players Association reached a tentative agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement per ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Both sides will need to ratify the deal but that is the expected outcome to the 99 day lockout. It will take up to a couple of days to become finalized & be officially ratified by both parties.
This will end the owner-imposed lockout and allow off-season activities to be resumed. This lockout (which has been the first to compromise the regular season) has been ongoing since Dec. 2, 2021 when the previous CBA had expired, and was the first MLB work stoppage since the 1994-1995 player strike.
The two sides have been going back and forth on such issues as raising the league minimum, competitive balance tax thresholds, a bonus pool for pre-arbitration players, expanded postseasons, international draft, the discussion of pitch clocks, shift banning & larger bases.
Here are some of the reported details from the accepted proposal, according to The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal:
CBT threshold: $230 million in 2023 and peaks at $244 million in final year of CBA;
Minimum salary: $700,000 and peaks at $780,000 in final year of CBA;
Pre-arb bonus pool: $50 million
Opening day, which had been originally set for March 31st is now expected to start around April 7th. Games could potentially be made up through doubleheaders, but a full 162-game season is expected.
Spring Training camps will open to MLB players in the coming days with games likely to start in the next week or so. More details will be disclosed as it gets reported.
In what has been a grueling process for everyone involved, fans have been the most vocal on this lockout. But with the news breaking of this agreement being reached, hopefully we can put the past few months behind us and look forward to baseball finally being back!