Baseball fans will get a full 162-game season after all. The Major League Baseball owners and players agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement on Thursday, ending the 99-day lockout and setting the stage for resuming all baseball activities.
The new CBA became official after both the owners and the players voted in favor of ratifying the agreement. The team owners agreed unanimously to the new deal, while 26 out of the 38 player representatives voted “yes.”
With the five-year collective bargaining agreement in place, free agents can agree to new deals, and players can start reporting for spring training. The first spring training games are scheduled for March 17th, while the Opening Day will be on April 7th. The league intends to play the full 162-game schedule by adding three extra days to the season and playing doubleheaders.
This marks the end of lengthy and often volatile negotiations between the league and the union. The two sides had significant differences on many issues, and neither side was willing to soften their stand for a long time. Finally, however, with the 2022 season in danger, the owners and the players made necessary concessions that allowed a compromise.
The new CBA includes major changes like 12-team postseason, increase of competitive-balance tax to $244M by 2026, and raise in minimum salary from $570,500 last season to $700,000 in 2022 and up to $780,000 by the end of the five years. The league will also institute a lottery draft in order to discourage tanking.
