MLB and MLBPA hold preliminary meeting on labor issues

Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association have had a preliminary discussion about the sport’s economic structure. report The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich. It is not an official start to negotiations, but represents their first known talks of any kind, with the collective bargaining agreement just over a year away from expiring. According to the report, respective chief negotiators Dan Halem (MLB) and Bruce Meyer (MLBPA) were present.

It’s more of a symbolic discussion than anything else. Drellich and Rosenthal write that it is unlikely that substantive negotiations will begin until next spring. This provided an opportunity for both sides to express differing views on the economics of the game. It is widely expected that the parties will not be able to reach a new agreement before the current CBA expires on December 1, 2026. If that’s the case, MLB would immediately implement a lockout to freeze the 2026-2027 offseason.

Commissioner Rob Manfred said last winter that there would likely be an offseason lockout new standard. While the league doesn’t technically have to implement a lockout once the CBA expires, it is their obligation to do so. Waiting would otherwise give the MLBPA the opportunity to strike, transferring the leverage for timing a work stoppage to the players.

The 2022-2023 lockout lasted 99 days. It was the first official work stoppage in MLB since the 1994-95 strike that canceled the ’94 World Series. (You could argue that there was an unofficial work stoppage in 2020, when negotiations over prorated salaries delayed the return to play after the first few months of the pandemic.) The ’22 lockout did not result in forfeited games, although Opening Day was postponed by about a week and a half. It is widely believed that MLB will again push for a salary cap in upcoming CBA talks, which the players’ union has insisted is a non-starter.