As deal expires, lockout begins
IRVING — For the first time in nearly three decades, Major League Baseball is in a work stoppage.
After the owners of MLB’S 30 clubs and the players failed to reach a new collective bargaining agreement before the expiration of the previous fiveyear pact at 10:59 p.m. Wednesday, the league enacted a lockout. It was the latest chapter in fraught labor relations in recent years.
While a lockout was not a requirement, the move is the owners’ cudgel, and it had previously been used by owners in the four major men’s North American professional sports leagues in similar instances. After a flurry of free agency activity leading up to Wednesday, a lockout brings the sport to a standstill. Teams are not allowed to talk to players, make major league signings or swing trades.
“We believe that an offseason lockout is the best mechanism to protect the 2022 season,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred wrote in a letter to fans posted at 11:01 p.m. Wednesday.
“We hope that the lockout will jump-start the negotiations and get us to an agreement that will allow the season to start on time. This defensive lockout was necessary because the Players Association’s vision for Major League Baseball would threaten the ability of most teams to be competitive. It’s simply not a viable option. From the beginning, the MLBPA has been unwilling to move from their starting position, compromise, or collaborate on solutions.”
The union vehemently disagreed. Its statement read, in part: “This shutdown is a dramatic measure, regardless of the timing. It is not required by law or for any other reason. It was the owners’ choice, plain and simple, specifically calculated to pressure players into relinquishing rights and benefits, and abandoning good faith bargaining proposals that will benefit not just players, but the game and industry as a whole.”
This is the ninth work stoppage in MLB history and the fourth lockout. The last time owners locked out the players was before the 1990 season. None of the previous three lockouts led to the cancellation of regular season games. In 1990, the 32-day lockout eliminated most of spring training, but the full schedule of regular season games was played, simply starting a week later than usual.
The last time a work stoppage damaged the regular season, though, was the 1994-95 players’ strike. It prematurely ended the 1994 campaign, canceled that year’s World Series and bled into the next season.
There was labor peace over the following decades, and baseball grew into an $11 billion a year industry with superstar players continually breaking records for contract size.
Although the groups remained significantly apart, the season is not yet in jeopardy, and negotiations between the sides can continue during a lockout. Spring training is scheduled to start in mid-february, and opening day is scheduled for March 31.