MLB is Back!
It’s finally over. On Thursday, March 10, 2022, MLB and the MLB Players Association finally reached an agreement over a new Collective Bargaining Agreement for the next five years. Spring Training will begin on Sunday and we will have a full 162-game season with Opening Day on April 7. The lockout that began on December 2 ended after 99 days, the second longest work stoppage in MLB history. It was a long and difficult process to watch for baseball fans. However, baseball is back and we can finally move on to talking about the players and teams that will take the field in 2022.
The main sticking point during these negotiations was, of course, economics. How do you split the multi-billion dollar pie fairly and in a way everyone can agree? As we saw it play out, those arguments can get heated and ugly and we almost lost a full season because of it. I learned how important competitive balance tax, arbitration bonus pools, minimum salary, and an international draft could be so important to players and owners that it took them months to agree on something. And those are the things that fans won’t see and thus can have a hard time relating to when all they see is empty stadiums and canceled games on the schedule. Thankfully, fans can now breathe a huge sigh of relief and we can begin to get back to some sort of normalcy. Here’s what you need to know about how baseball will look moving forward:
The Competitive Balance Tax will increase from $230 million to $244 million over 5 years
Minimum salary will increase to $700,000 (previous was $570,500, the lowest of the four major sports) and will reach $780,000 by the 5th year
There will be a $50 million bonus pool for younger players who have yet to reach arbitration
That’s the boring, economic stuff that took 99 days to figure out. Here’s what you, as the fan, will notice:
The postseason has expanded from 10 teams to 12
Uniforms will feature advertising (patches on jerseys, decals on helmets)
The National League is adopting the Designated Hitter
A draft lottery for the bottom 6 teams in the league
A player can be optioned to the minor leagues a max of 5 times in one season
45-day window for MLB to implement a pitch clock, banning shifts, and increasing the size of bases in the 2023 season
We can get into the details of all those points and how it will change the game moving forward but at this point, I am just going to celebrate baseball being played. The sounds of baseball returning to spring training complexes in Arizona and Florida brings a smile to my face and that’s all that matters. The last thing I will say about this lockout is what frustrated me the most was that it took both sides so long to start negotiating in person. It wasn’t until the end of February and into early March, when Spring Training and regular season games were being canceled did talks really start to get serious. All winter long, they waited. There was a 43-day gap of time where neither side talked to each other. 43 DAYS! What else are you doing in the offseason!? Both sides were so far apart in the beginning but I was confident a deal would get done because they had months to figure it out. Instead they procrastinate, like a distracted college student, and waited until the last minute to finish the most important project that was assigned. Although I’m frustrated about how these negotiations played out, I’m just happy it got done.
Now comes the fun part - free agent signings, big league camp, Opening Day, the 2022 season, and October glory. Buckle up baseball fans, we’re back!