Baseball in the Major Leagues is going through a positive moment after the spotlight of the last two off-seasons, where records were broken, first with the $700 million contract of Shohei Ohtani with the Los Angeles Dodgers, which a year later was surpassed by the $765 million that Juan Soto managed to sign with the New York Mets.
But these explosive amounts are a point that could ultimately lead to conflict over the need to discuss a salary cap, which would be one of the triggers that would lead players to prepare for a work stoppage, as the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) and the 30 team owners will expire at the end of the 2026 season.
During the San Francisco GiantsSpring Training in Scottsdale, Tony Clark, head of the MLBPA, addressed the possibility of a strike and believes that the signs indicate that the league would be willing to accept a strike after the 2026 season to allow for a better deal.
“Unless I’m mistaken, the league has said there will be a lockout,” Tony Clark told Sportico. “So I don’t think I’m speaking out of turn in that regard.”
MLB believes lockout would help negotiate better deal
Clark relies on recent comments made by the MLB commissioner, Rob Manfred, who compared a measure such as a lockout to using a 22-caliber instead of a shotgun.
“There has been talk of a lockout and that’s good for the game, it even gets to the point where it’s like using a .22 caliber gun instead of a shotgun,” Clark said.
The reflection of Rob Manfred to which Clark alludes about the positive aspect of lockouts is focused on the fact that in these circumstances it is possible to reach a better deal in negotiations, although in practice, both players and fans suffer from the stoppage, even the owners who stop having the usual income.
“In some strange way, it’s actually a positive thing. The good thing about off-season lockouts is that the influence that exists is applied between the negotiating parties,” Manfred said a few days ago.
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