The Show Goes On!

After a long process coming up to the last night, Major League Baseball and the Players Association agreed on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. Baseball has had labor peace for most of my life now, the last strike being 1994-1995. Without a new CBA, the owners may have voted to lock the players out, making the Winter Meetings next week a and all the offseason a lot less interesting if all the trades and free agent signings had been impossible.

Some takeaways from the new CBA:

The salary cap will rise each season: from the $189 million this year up to $210 million the last year of the deal

Still no international draft

Active roster sizes stay the same-25 during the year, also 40-man roster rules same for September call-ups.

Smokeless tobacco banned for new players

The All-Star Game will not count for home-field advantage!

That last one is a big deal, as the Chicago Cubs would most definitely have held home field advantage. The new deal reportedly gives the advantage to the pennant winner with the best record, The All-Star Game started mattering back in 2003 after the debacle of a 2-2 tie after 11 innings at Miller Park in 2002. The game had to end after there were no pitchers left on the roster to come in.

So, there we are with five more years of baseball peace. I'll probably start doing a countdown to Spring Training and Opening Day real soon. Always fun hearing Twins games on KFIL!