Baseball Is Back! Agreement Struck Between Owners & Players

 After months of haggling and nasty rhetoric, MLB owners and players have finally struck a deal on a new collective bargaining agreement. The lockout is over, and teams will now scramble to fill out their rosters. Let the free agency and trading resume. 

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

Players can start to report to team facilities for spring training as soon as tomorrow. Opening Day has been announced as April 7th, just one week late. Spring training games will begin in a week, according to mlb.com's Mark Feinsand. 

Executive subcommittee voted 8-0 against deal and teams voted 26-4 in favor, sources tell @TheAthletic. Dissenting teams were NYM, NYY, HOU, STL. First with breakdown: @JonHeyman.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) March 10, 2022

Although the final vote from the MLBPA was 26-12, Jon Heyman & Ken Rosenthal are reporting that the executive subcommittee of veteran players—all Scott Boras clients—voted 8-0 AGAINST the deal. It's the 30 team player reps—the real rank & file of players across the league—that carried it through, voting 26-4 in favor. The four teams' reps that voted against it are the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Houston Astros and St. Louis Cardinals.

The owners, on the other hand, voted a unanimous 30-0.  

But make no mistake: Major League Baseball is back.