The 2022 Major League Baseball (MLB) regular season will finally be only a week late and will start on April 7. On Thursday, players and franchise owners agreed on a new collective bargaining agreement. This will put an end to 99 days of “lock-out” (paralysis of the league), decreed on December 2 at the time of the expiration of the previous collective agreement.
Last Wednesday, MLB boss Rob Manfred announced that the start of the season would be delayed due to lack of agreement between players and owners. The nine days of additional negotiations eventually resolved the differences. ” I am sincerely excited to announce that MLB is back and we will play 162 games (a full regular season),” Manfred announced Thursday.
Twelve teams in the play-offs
According to ESPN, the 30 franchise owners voted unanimously for the new collective agreement while the 38 player representatives approved it by a large majority (26-12). Among the main changes in the new document: the minimum wage will increase each season, rising to 700,000 annual dollars (around 630,000 euros) in 2022 before reaching 780,000 (around 709,000 euros) dollars in 2026.
The play-offs will now bring together twelve teams instead of ten, with four teams exempted from the first round. Bonuses reserved for young players will also increase, as will the tax levied by MLB when a team exceeds the salary cap.
