A day after another arbitrary deadline passed with Major League Baseball saying Opening Day would be pushed back to April 14, a labor agreement has been reached to end the 99-day lockout in time to preserve a full 162-game season.
The major league season is now set to open April 7 with the Orioles currently scheduled to begin the 2022 campaign on the road against Tampa Bay on April 8. Their two postponed series — originally a season-opening three-game tilt at home against Toronto and a three-game set at Boston — will be made up through the combination of three days being added to the end of the regular season in early October and the scheduling of doubleheaders.
The Orioles are currently set to play their home opener against Milwaukee on Monday, April 11, but it remains to be seen whether the originally scheduled 7:05 p.m. first pitch will be altered.
With what figures to be a frenetic period of free agency resuming Thursday night, teams will open major league spring training this weekend and the Grapefruit and Cactus League schedules are expected to begin March 18.
Below are some of the notable elements of the new collective bargaining agreement:
– expansion of the postseason field from 10 teams to 12 (three division winners and three wild cards per league with the top two teams receiving opening-round byes)
– increases in the competitive balance tax threshold
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– increases in the minimum salaries and the introduction of a bonus pool for pre-arbitration players
– designated hitter being adopted in both leagues
– six-team draft lottery to discourage tanking and a 20-round amateur draft
– draft pick incentives to discourage service-time manipulation
– limit to the number of times (five) a player can be optioned to the minors in a single season
