The baseball season is over.
It took more than three months for Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association to come to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement.
How did a deal get done? Can free agents sign again? When will players report to camp? What did this mess mean in the end?
What was accomplished was broken down by the baseball experts.
gency made movement. When the league created a deadline, the union didn't panic. After a week and a half, it ended up with a better offer as the calendar pages fell away and there would be a point where playing 162 games would be in real jeopardy. After months of negotiations, this was what was needed. The union's calmness in the face of the deadlines proved fruitful.
What should we know and what should we do next?
There will be a full 162-game schedule on April 7.
The mandatory and voluntary report dates for the spring training camps are March 13 and March 11.
March 17 is when the spring training games start.
The free agency will start immediately once the CBA is approved.
The playoffs will be expanded to 12 teams this season.
The designated hitter will be adopted by the National League.
The CBT is expected to grow to $244 million.
What is the biggest change in the sport?
12 of the 30 teams will make the playoffs, thanks to two additional teams. The owners did not get the 14-team format they wanted, but the increase in playoff teams is still 50%. What does it mean? It has historically been difficult to make the MLB playoffs, but the importance of the regular season continues to diminish, as baseball draws closer to the 16-team brackets of the NBA and NHL. We don't know if it will lead to more spending. The players say no, but it is possible that an easier trek to the playoffs will lead to less tanking and more spending.
What are you surprised that didn't change?
I was surprised that there weren't more anti-tanking measures. A draft lottery is a good start, but is it enough to curb the cycles of losing we have seen in both small and big markets? One agent liked the idea of a salary floor, but with penalties for going under it and continued penalties for going over it. It would have been better if teams were forced to spend.
Which side was better? Is there reason for both sides to be happy?
The owners got an expanded postseason format, preserved the basic economic structures that have been in place for a while, and have more flexibility in changing on-the-field rules. The owners won. The players received mechanisms to get more money from younger players. Some of the top-end spending could be loosened by the tweaking of the CBT levels. If the deal on the international draft comes together, it will be good for high-end free agents. If fewer teams enter full-scale rebuilds, the new draft lottery may help boost midlevel free agency. Probably not. The gains for the MLBPA seem modest and anything resembling the status quo is good for the owners. It is not clear if this agreement furthers the goal of increasing the players' aggregate share of revenue pie that is likely to keep growing.
Will fans forget about this mess by opening day?
Spring training will be unlike any we have ever seen before. Major trades are getting worked out while big-name free agents are signing. Fernando Tatis Jr., Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto will make usTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkias will be captivating us once again when opening day arrives. The All-Star Game will come to a newly renovated Dodger Stadium, the postseason field will be bigger than ever, and in the midst of that, new rules will be implemented to quicken the pace of play. The selfishness and pettiness of these negotiations will be forgotten quickly because too much else is going on. It was important to get this deal done now so that a full season could be salvaged even with opening day pushed a week back.
What does this mean for the negotiations?
After the previous agreement was forged in 2016 you can already see the storm clouds gathering on the horizon. The middle class within the union is going to get crushed in the next few years, because there is almost nothing in this deal in place to prop up that group. The practice of tanking hurts the middle class the most. There was little done to deter teams from tanking.
The best of the young players will get more money from the bonus pool than the older players, as the current system rewards the elite players. With the best of the youngest players now becoming more expensive, teams will be more aggressive in non-tendering players. The supply-and-demand problem has gutted spending on the middle class, and this will only increase the free-agent pool.
The owners have had Haves vs. Have nots problem. In the future, there will be discussions about whether the best interests of all of the players are served by having so many members of the leadership group represented by one agent. The majority of the players making the big decisions in this round of negotiations were Scott Boras clients. The players and agents want to push for the high volume of union members who comprise the rank-and-file.
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