It is darkest just before the dawn, and in the bleakest moments of the lockout negotiations, baseball is finally able to return.
The league office stretched the deadlines as far as they could take them to guarantee a 162-game season. With revised opening day slated for April 7, the schedule was modified to ensure no games would be missed.
Incorporated in the deal: rule changes to improve “pace of play” on the field, and allow for additional spending off of it.
Moving forward, seven-inning double headers and the runner on second to start each extra inning – both instituted due to Covid-19 – will be done away with. The National League has also adopted the designated hitter in place of the pitcher batting, an obvious boost to a typically-inferior offensive batch of teams.
The number of playoff teams will expand from 10 teams to 12, six in each league consisting of three division winners and three wild cards. Anticipated increases in TV ratings will bring forth enhanced total revenue, and thus raise salaries to the previously-maligned players’ liking.
Effective as of 2023, the shift will be eliminated. Exact details are still to be determined and announced, but left-handed sluggers like local pull-happy power hitter, the Yankees’ Joey Gallo, are rejoicing. Also starting next season: a pitch clock will be implemented to speed up games.
The new Collective Bargaining Agreement is a five-year plan, with follow-up talks to be had in the winter offseason of 2026-2027. Until then, the salary and spending money allotted will appreciate year by year. According to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, the league minimum salary will start at $700,000 and increase by $20k every year after that. Last year, it sat at $570,500, and these increases will have to be calculated into the new luxury tax numbers.
The tax threshold will start at $230 million; up from last year’s $210 million. It will rise annually to $233M, $237M, $241M, respectively, and end at $244M. The league now hopes to jumpstart spending on the bigger free agents with this new wiggle room in place for all teams.
One major component of the deal addressed teams “tanking” for draft picks. The solution: a six-team lottery, similar to the NBA and the NHL. Starting this season, the teams at the bottom of the league, in terms of their win-loss record(s), will make up the entirety of the lottery selection for draft positioning.
An interesting tactic, as the MLB draft is a much tougher accurate grader of future superstars than in other sports. Though the first pick may be the best player on the board in that team’s eyes, the actual standout from that class Mike Trout (2009, pick Number 25) or Aaron Judge (2032, pick Number 32) may be dozens of picks away.
Giving teams something to play for and avoid is a positive decision that is sure to reflect in some meddling teams’ performance this season and beyond, but they still not be entirely deterred from sitting content with a bottom-six placement.
Spring Training report date was Sunday, March 13, and players are now back in the full swing of things in Florida and Arizona. Let the games begin.
Due to the labor lockout, no transactions could occur for the majority of the offseason. Thus, baseball is on the precipice of beginning its own March Madness of player movement proportions. Let the trades begin, too.
While it was not the most ideal route to the destination, the journey produced the desired-all-along end result: America’s pastime is back. Disaster was avoided. Play ball.
