After three months of meaningless conversations between Major League Baseball and the union, the two sides finally put their heads together and spent all day and night in the same building yesterday, coming oh-so-close to what we’ve all been waiting anxiously for — a resolution. Going into Monday, Major League Baseball had set a deadline, threatening to cancel games without pay if a deal was not reached by midnight. Â A CBA was not signed, but fortunately, enough progress was made into the wee hours of the morning that the deadline was pushed to 5 PM ET today.
There will be no deal on a new collective-bargaining agreement in this early hour, sources tell ESPN. Enough progress was made that MLB and the MLBPA will meet again later today in hopes of finalizing one. Deadline to miss regular-season games has been moved to 5 p.m. today.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 1, 2022
I don’t want to get too optimistic because if these labor negotiations have taught us anything, it’s that neither side should be trusted. Who knows who could throw the next temper tantrum, bringing all the progress to a screeching halt. With that being said, it does feel as if the end is in sight. If things go as planned on Tuesday, a new CBA will be agreed on and no games will be canceled… but then what?
Once the two sides come to an agreement, the CBA must be signed and ratified, which could take a day or two. At that point, free agency will resume… and then… pandemonium. A slew of marquee names should come flying off the shelf within a matter of days, and we could also see a few blockbuster trades.
Not long after that, baseball will officially be back, as Spring Training should begin in the middle of March. As far as the start of the season, I would expect it to be pushed back a couple of weeks. However, no games will be canceled, which would have been the ultimate nightmare for fans and the league in general.
We’ll keep you posted as actual dates are revealed. But for now, let’s just hope everything goes smoothly today, and this mess is put behind us by 5 PM ET.
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