Baseball Is Back

MLB And The Players Association End The Lockout With A New CBA By Rich Coutinho

It was a long and often aggressive process but the owners and players agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement and each team will still play their full 162 game schedule with that season starting on April 7 which will feature a balanced schedule, an expanded 12 team playoff structure and a DH in both leagues.

This work stoppage was the second longest in baseball history and the players received a boost in minimum salary as well as an increase in luxury tax thresholds. Spring training will begin very soon with April 7 being the opening day. The agreement also insures there will be baseball on April 15 which is the 75th anniversary of debut of Jackie Robinson which broke the MLB color barrier.

These negotiations had a nasty theme to the proceedings and an interesting factor is players on the executive committee voted no on this pact while the MLB player reps all voted yes. It symbolizes there may be a divide insider the players union and only time will tell if that becomes an issue. I do believe that this agreement did as much for the players that just hit the sport as the veteran players and in some cases did far more for the younger players addressing their income with a huge boost in minimum salary.

The 12 team playoff became a huge need for the owners and it will benefit the players as well putting far more teams in the playoff races come September which will bring more fans to the park while bringing both ratings and revenue to the regional spirts networks.

Now the player transactions will begin in earnest with many high profile players out there in the marketplace. Names like Freddie Freeman, Anthony Rizzo, Clayton Kershaw, and Kris Bryant are all looking for homes. Both of our local teams will be trying to fill out their roster and do not be surprised if the trade market is as frenetic as the free agent spree.

I believe the agreement also could breed a real partnership between the players and owners trying to generate more interest with rule changes such as outlawing the shift, larger bases and the possibility of improving the pace of the play with a pitch clock.

The bottom line here is baseball simply could not afford a regular season work stoppage with all that is going on in our world. Baseball fans are loyal but taking the game away from them when they need that escape more than ever could have been a crushing blow to the national pastime. And in New York with both teams having legitimate championship aspirations, this could have had an even more permanent loss of the fan base in The Big Apple.

I know Met fans were especially excited about the prospect of a Koufax/Drysdale type duo in Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom not to mention the additions of players like Sterling Marte who will boost the offense. Those feelings were held in abeyance while this lockout was going on and you could feel the sigh of relief in MetNation.

So spring training will start soon and that coupled with a mad free agent rush will point us to an April 7th Opening Day. And for Max Scherzer that means a start in that first series versus the Nats which should be off the charts while a Yankee Bosox early season series will be mighty interesting as well.

Lets play ball and put the bad vibes behind us. It is simply the greatest game in the world and this agreement will be a blessing keeping labor peace in our world for the next five years.