After a long three-plus months without baseball news, and a month of labor negotiations, Major League Baseball (MLB) owners and the players union have agreed to a deal, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
MLB sent their third ‘last and final’ proposal for a full 162-game season which included a $10-million increase in player pre-arbitration and a minimum salary of $700k in 2022, going up $20k each year for the five years the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is in effect.
The competitive bonus tax (CBT), the largest issue during the month of negotiations, will begin at $230-million and increase up to $244-million during the five-year agreement.
The new CBA brings universal designated hitters, and the return of nine-inning double-headers and no more ghost runners on second base to begin extra innings.
Six teams will make the playoffs in each league, with the best overall record having the one-seed. The other division winners will be seeded two and three. The three remaining top records in each league will have seeds 4-6. The top two seeds will receive a bye in the first-round best-of-three series, with the one-seed playing the winner of the 4v5 matchup, and the two-seed playing the 3v6 series.
The pitch clock addition and the ban of the shift will not be implemented until at least the 2023 season when the schedule format will change to play all other 29 teams in the 162-game season.
Free agency and trade transactions resumed at approximately 3:25 p.m. PT after the owners voted unanimously to approve their own deal to the players. Team representatives voted 26 out of 30 in favor of the owners’ deal, while the union executive board voted 8-0 against.
Players can report to spring training as early as tomorrow, Mar. 11, and the mandatory report date has been set for Sunday, March 13. The spring opener is set for March 17 and Opening Day will be Thursday, April 7, giving teams three weeks between the reporting date and the opener to the regular season.
The San Diego Padres will open the season on April 7 on the road against the Arizona Diamondbacks with the home opener on Thursday, April 14 against the Atlanta Braves.
The first week of the original season will be made up as double-headers throughout the season.