There has been a months-long Major League Baseball lockout due to a lack of agreement on terms between the Major League Baseball Players Association and Major League Baseball. After a long-awaited compromise, several revisions have been made.
The new game
After nearly 100 days of players being locked out, the game of baseball has seen some drastic changes. The season is still set to open on April 7 with no games lost. This is what games this year could possibly look like.
A longer postseason
This year’s postseason is longer than usual. It will consist of 6 teams per league [National and American]: the top three division winners and three wild cards. The seeding will go accordingly:
1 seed: Best overall record
2 seed: Second-best record among division winners
3 seed: Third-best division winner record
4-6 seeds: Three best records among wild card winners, in order of
The top two seeds will get a bye in the divisional round. The winners of the wildcard round will then advance to the divisional round as well. The 18 teams that don’t make the postseason will be entered into a lottery to get any one of the top six draft picks.
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Raising salaries
Also, updated this season is the minimum salary for players. In 2021, the minimum salary was $570k. However, in 2022 it was raised to $700k. The minimum salary amount will increase every year under the new collective bargaining agreement (CBA). By 2026, the minimum salary will be $780k. This salary increase is the highest in a single year in Major League Baseball history.
Awards and stats have become an important part of the arbitration process. Under the updated CBA, the top 100 players in the league will receive a pre-arbitration bonus. The bonus is out of a $50 million pool. MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) are developing a formula to calculate the top 100. It takes stats and awards won from the previous season into consideration.
Other changes
The top two prospects in each league’s Rookie of the Year voting will get a full year of service time. Teams can also get draft picks by promoting prospects to the main roster on Opening Day. If the prospect finishes in either the top three in ROY voting or the top five in Cy Young/MVP voting, the team will receive draft pick(s).
There’s also a new rule limiting how many times a player can be sent down to the minor leagues in one season. Causing much dismay is the display of advertisements on jerseys this year at the major league level. Many were angered simply by the Nike logo being displayed. The effect of advertisements on uniforms can’t possibly go over well.
The Rule 5 Draft was also scrapped which is a huge blow to minor league players. They would’ve seen a huge pay rise upon being selected. The International Draft is set to be talked about later during the season. It can be expected to be an intense talk.
While there are still more things that could be fixed in Major League Baseball, the new CBA is still causing celebration. No games have been lost, and it’ll be exciting to see America’s Greatest Pastime go on as scheduled.
