The closing of Major League Baseball is over.
The owners of the MLB and the players union agreed on a new collective bargaining agreement on Thursday, ending the 99-day closure that began on December 2. This was the second longest layoff in MLB history.
The owners made the final offer to the players in the early hours of Thursday afternoon and the deal was agreed by the players with 26 to 12 votes. Representatives of the 30 players voted 26-4 in favor of the deal, while the eight executive subcommittee members voted 8-0 against the deal, According to John Heyman of MLB Network. The hosts then voted 30-0 to ratify the deal on Thursday night, officially ending the closure.
Despite the MLB deadlines of February 28 and March 9 to save an entire season, no matches will be lost in 2022. Each team will play a roster of 162 games, with opening day set for April 7, exactly one week. after scheduled. The date was originally scheduled for March 31. The end of the season will be extended by another three days and the doubles players will play nine runs to make up for lost time. Players will receive their full salary in 2022.
Players must show up for Spring Training by Sunday 13 March and the free agency can reopen as soon as Thursday evening.
Here are the other salient details of the new collective bargaining agreement (via ESPN’s Jeff Bassan):
- A 12-team stadium after the end of the season, with six teams in each league in the playoffs.
- Similar to the NBA, advertisements with patches on shirts and decals on batting helmets will be allowed.
- 45-day period for the MLB to implement rule changes, including: the field clock, the ban on rounds and the larger rules of the 2023 season.
- The designated hitter will be used in each of the tournaments.
- A lottery project will be carried out, hoping to discourage the tanks.
- Draft picking incentives to discourage serving time manipulation (similar to Chris Bryant’s 2015 situation).
- There will be a limited number of times a player can be selected in minor leagues in a single season.
