MLB Strikes Again

We haven’t had Major League Baseball players go on strike for a salary increase since the midseason of 1994. That salary cap dispute, actually, ended up running into the next year, 1995. Fast forward, to 2022, and tensions have arisen, once again. There has been a desire to raise the minimum salary of players, while keeping the competitive-balance tax, which would in-turn create a pool to aid in paying young players. With more than just issues with owner-imposed lockout concern, which was unanimously voted on by all 30 owners, this seems it will affect this year’s baseball season. This will not only affect fans but players as well. The Major League Baseball Players Association has barred players from participating in club activities, stopped club officials from engaging with them, and prevented teams from transacting trades or free-agent signings at the MLB level. After an extension of Monday’s informal deadline, Major League Baseball and the MLB association were unable to finalize a new collective bargaining agreement on Tuesday. By 5 pm, the deadline was reached without a favorable outcome for either side of this negotiation. On Thursday, there was a union meet in New York, where there was an hour and a half allocated, to plot the next steps of these negotiations. After this past “best and final offer” was proposed, on Tuesday, and with the discussions that took place on Thursday, we have yet to see what exactly the future compromise will entail. So far, MLB has spent about 20 hours, almost an entire day, on coming to an adequate compromise that will bring about a resolution that can get us all back to enjoying the games. What we do know is, spring training is out completely and the start of the 2022 season will be set back at least a couple weeks and will start no sooner than the second week of April. Stay tuned to see when the new home openers will take place. Email us at [email protected] to sign up to receive event information and special offers.