MLB lockout ends after owners, players reach tentative CBA agreement
CHICAGO (CBS) – Following a wave of cancellations for the upcoming season due to negotiations, MLB owners and players have reached a tentative agreement Thursday on a new collective bargaining agreement, ending a 99-day lockout, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan.
The union voted to approve a new proposal by a 26-12 margin and now the owner-imposed lockout will be lifted and the offseason will reopen. Players will report to spring training in the upcoming days.
The agreement comes just a day after commissioner Rob Manfred announced more cancellations pushing back the original opening day from March 31 to April 14 at the earliest.
As CBS 2's Jackie Kostek reports, that deal is all but official at this point. The owners are expected to ratify the deal soon which means baseball will be back. The deal ends the second-longest work stoppage in league history.
Guaranteed Rate and Wrigley fields are empty now but not for long. Major League Baseball will likely celebrate opening day in April with free agency and trades will likely start rolling in shortly after the deal is ratified as soon as Thursday night.
The Cubs and White Sox could be making the trip to Arizona as early as tomorrow for training camps that likely open Sunday. A few changes you'll notice this season from this new five-year deal include the postseason will be expanded to 12 teams, and we'll start to see advertising on player uniforms.
The owners first enacted the lockout on Dec. 2, when the previous CBA expired. This was MLB's first work stoppage since the 1994-95 players strike. Though the league characterized that act as a defensive mechanism it hoped would hasten negotiations, the owners then waited more than six weeks to make their first proposal. Talks heated up starting in the final week of February when the two sides daily met in Florida, and an agreement was reached Thursday after hours of negotiations this week in New York.
MLB teams are set to play the full 162 game season. Opening day is April 7.