Recently baseball has been a little … quiet. A Major League Baseball (MLB) lockout is in place and is not the only time it has happened, and let's say there is one especially we do not want to repeat.
What is a lockout?
A lockout in simple terms is a disagreement between the MLB and Players Association. This disagreement could vary from new rules to put in place or more ways to make money. But during the lockout no transactions can be made. That means any free agents cannot sign with a team, players cannot be traded and no games can be played.
Has This Happened Before?
Yes, actually. In 1973, the first ever lockout happened but was resolved before the season could’ve been affected, and the same with the lockouts in 1976 and 1990. Then came arguably the worst year for baseball in 1994. The arguments started to rise in July of 1993 when people started to believe that the owners were stalling to bargain at the season's end, which would help them save millions of dollars from player contracts. The MLB wanted to implement a salary cap to a player’s contract which was implemented on January 18th, 1994. But the players did not agree, so if they didn’t open negotiations soon, the players would go on strike and it would cause the MLB to not hold a postseason or World Series. The last games of that season were played on August 11th, 1994. The strike was the longest in MLB history lasting 232 days forcing 948 total games to not be played and for the whole ‘94 postseason to not be played. This was the first time in MLB history we did not get to see a World Series.
When will the lockout end?
Nobody knows for sure when the current lockout will end. The owners and the MLB Players Association have to agree on a deal. The latest deadline is around the beginning of March and hopefully it doesn’t go that long. My honest prediction is that they will reach an agreement in the next couple of meetings because of spring training. The Players Association is preparing a counter proposal Monday January 24th. Hopefully, they can get some things sorted out.
Works Cited
Perry, Dayn. “MLB lockout: Everything to know about baseball's first work stoppage since 1994-95.” CBS Sports, 12 December 2021, https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-lockout-everything-to-know-about-baseballs-first-work-stoppage-since-1994-95/. Accessed 21 January 2022.
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