The lockout is over!
Baseball is officially back!
It might cost a thousand dollars to drive to the ballpark by the time Opening Day rolls around, but hey.
Baseball IS BACK!
Here’s some tweets to get you up to speed if you missed it yesterday.
BREAKING: Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association have reached a tentative agreement on a new labor deal, sources tell ESPN. While it still needs to be ratified by both parties, that is expected to be a formality, and when it is:
Baseball is back.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 10, 2022
Housekeeping: MLB is calling March 13, which is Sunday, a mandatory spring training report date, except for players with visa issues, who will have more time. Regular season goes three days later than originally planned. Other games made up as doubleheaders. Opening Day April 7.
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) March 10, 2022
Rob Manfred says the 2023 schedule will be more balanced. Teams will play at least one series against every opponent in both leagues.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) March 10, 2022
Baseball is really back. Nine inning doubleheaders and regular extra inning rules return. Man on 2nd is a thing of the past.
— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) March 10, 2022
Some details emerging on how the expanded playoffs will work:
* No more Game 163 tiebreakers. All playoff spots will be determined through NFL-type tiebreaker formulas.
* No re-seeding for the LDS. 1st seed plays winner of 4 vs. 5 Wild Card Series. 2nd seed plays 3 vs 6 winner.
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) March 10, 2022
Some final details of a CBA where players made some notable gains:
• Pre-arb bonus pool at $50m
• Min salary: $700k, $720k, 740k, $760k, $780k
• CBT: $230m-$244m
• Draft lottery at 6 picks
• Universal DH
• Amateur draft is 20 rounds
• Player can be optioned 5 times per yr— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) March 10, 2022
Details on the new pre-arb bonus pool payouts:
MVP/Cy Young winners get $2.5M
MVP/Cy 2nd place gets $1.75M
3rd place gets $1.5M
4th/5th gets $1MROY gets $750,000
ROY 2nd place gets $500All-MLB 1st team gets $1M
All-MLB 2nd team gets $500,000Rest of pool $ is based on WAR
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) March 11, 2022
Confirming @ZHBuchanan 's report. This year's MLB Rule 5 draft is cancelled.
— JJ Cooper (@jjcoop36) March 10, 2022
Here’s my favorite tweet.
If you would have told me five years ago that MLB would try to institute a whole new level of luxury tax to curb the spending of Mets ownership… https://t.co/Y4r4COg2Iv
— Laura Albanese (@AlbaneseLaura) March 9, 2022
Did MLB really introduce a “Steve Cohen” tax?
Seemingly, yes.
The four tax thresholds in year one of this deal:
$230 million
$250 million
$270 million
$290 millionFWIW the current #Mets tax payroll projection from @fangraphs RosterResource:
$271.1 million
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) March 10, 2022
In just a few weeks, we will be watching Major League baseball!
Some things have changed. Some things remain the same. (For now.)
Other things have gone back to the way they should be. 9 inning doubleheaders. No more runner at second base to start extra innings.
Hallelujah!
One thing that is going to prove to be very interesting is the universal DH. You could go in a ton of different directions with this Mets roster.
Who stays? Who goes?
Hold on to your seats…
Free agency has begun. Have at it, fellas.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) March 10, 2022