MLB, MLBPA reach new CBA; here’s everything you need to know
Update 6:30 p.m. ET: Jon Heyman of Audacy Sports was among those to note that the new CBA has been ratified.
Michael Silverman of The Boston Globe says that the lockout “will be officially lifted around 7.” That means that transactions can take place again.
Original Story
The t’s are still being crossed and i’s dotted, but it appears that the Major League Baseball lockout is over, setting up what will be a frenzied next few weeks for the Philadelphia Phillies and the league as a whole.
ESPN‘s Jeff Passan was the first to report that MLB and the Players Association have “a tentative agreement on a new labor deal.” Passan does note that the new collective bargaining agreement still needs ratification, but the belief is that’s going to happen.
Passan also confirms his colleague Jesse Rodgers’ report that the plan is for Opening Day to be on April 7, adding that players will be eligible to report for spring training “as early as tomorrow.” The regular season will be a full 162 games.
The transactions freeze that has been in place since the owners imposed a lockout on Dec. 1 will be lifted whenever the new CBA is officially ratified, with Passan saying that could come “as early as today.”
Here are some of the provisions of the new CBA:
- The postseason will expand to 12 playoff teams — three division winners, three Wild Cards — in 2022. MLB had used a 10-team playoff format since 2012.
- Universal DH beginning in 2022 season
- The first luxury tax threshold is going to be $230 million in 2022, after it was $210 million in 2021. It will be $233 million in 2023, $237 million in 2024, $241 million in 2025 and $244 million in 2026.
- The minimum MLB salary is now $700,000, after it was $570,500 in the previous CBA. It will increase by $20,000 each year of this new CBA.
- Doubleheaders will return to being nine innings after being seven innings the past two seasons.
- After two years of extra innings starting with a runner on second base, old-school extra-inning rules will return.
- There will now be an MLB Draft Lottery that features the teams with the six worst records each season.
- The MLB Draft, which was previously 40 rounds, will now be 20 rounds.
- Players can only be optioned five times in a given season.
This story will be updated as more details come in…
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