Baseball is Back

Major League Baseball reached a collective bargaining agreement with its Players’ Association yesterday afternoon, ending a 99-day lockout.

⚾ The deets... Players and owners agreed on dozens of alterations to the sport for at least the next five years, most notably:

• Expanding the playoffs from 10 teams to 12.
• Instituting a universal DH for the upcoming season and beyond.
• Eliminating Covid-inspired rules like 7-inning doubleheaders and teams starting with a runner on second base in extra innings.
• Granting a special MLB committee the ability to implement rule changes like a ban on defensive shifts, a pitch clock, larger bases and automated balls/strikes (all potentially starting in 2023).
• Raising the minimum MLB salary and the Competitive Balance Tax – baseball’s equivalent of a salary cap.
• Introducing a draft lottery intended to discourage teams from tanking.
• Adopting a new system to prevent alleged service-time manipulation of prospects.

👀 Looking ahead… Players can report for Spring Training as early as today. Opening Day for the full 162-game season will be pushed back eight days to April 7.