Major League Baseball owners and players reached an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement yesterday and MLB announced that they will reinstate the full 162-game schedule. Opening Day will be April 7th. The new five-year Collective Bargaining Agreement will increase minimum salaries, universal designated hitter, a 12-team playoff, a Draft lottery, and the elimination of pandemic measures such as the charity runner on second base to start extra innings and seven-inning doubleheaders.
More than 200 players who remain free agents, such as stars Kris Bryant, Freddie Freeman and Carlos Correa, will be able to sign new contracts once the CBA is finalized, and that should be today. The agreement was rejected unanimously, 8-0, by the players’ executive negotiating committee, but the rank and file players approved it in team-by-team voting, 26 teams to four.
Spring Training will begin ramping up this weekend in Arizona and Florida. Games will begin next week with Opening Day of the regular season slated for April 7th.
For the Pirates, the new CBA is not necessarily the news they were hoping for, because it forces them to increase salaries and also makes it more difficult to raid the pockets of teams that exceed the Competitive Balance Tax. For their fans, however, there is at least a little hope that they will add some quality ballplayers and keep players like All-Star centerfielder Bryan Reynolds, who last year made less money than the new minimum. Reynolds will get a massive pay increase this year anyway because he is arbitration eligible.
The Pirates open at St. Louis on April 7th. The home opener is April 12th against the Cubs.
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