Jeff Passan of ESPN reports that Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Union have agreed on a new CBA. Baseball is back!

The owners voted 30-0 to ratify the new CBA. The players voted 26-12 to accept the owners’ proposal.

Andy Martino of SNY reports that the owners’ call to ratify is set for 6:30 p.m. ET and free agency will begin right after that.

Part of the agreement is that MLB and MLBPA will have until July 25th to negotiate a deal on the International Draft. If a deal is reached, the qualifying offer will vanish. If no deal, the QO will return and the international system will remain the same. The draft would start in 2024.

What is part of the deal:

  • Player uniforms can feature advertising for the first time, with patches on jerseys and decals on batting helmets.
  • Universal DH
  • 9-inning doubleheaders to make up for the delay
  • Mandatory report date for Spring Training is March 13th
  • Opening Day would be April 7th for most teams
  • 12-team postseason (there would be no Game 163 tie breaker, and no re-seeding after round one, according to The Athletic‘s Jayson Stark)
  • Full 162-game regular season
  • $50M pre-arbitration bonus pool
  • Minimum salary of $700,000 in 2022, increasing by $20K per year
  • CBT $230M in 2022, rising annually to $233M, $237M, $241M, $244M
  • 6-pick draft lottery
  • Rule 5 draft for this year has been canceled
  • Starting in 2023, the schedule will feature fewer divisional games, and every team will play at least one series against every other opponent
  • New 4th surcharge threshold (being call the Steve Cohen tax) that starts at $60 million over the first CBT at an 80% charge
  • MLB can implement rule changes with 45 days notice beginning in 2023, they must be approved by joint committee

Tom Verducci reported on MLB Network on Thursday morning that if a deal was done today, then free agency could open later on Thursday. That would certainly make for a crazy weekend of rumors. Jesse Rogers of ESPN confirms that free agency would start on Thursday night.

We will update this post as more information becomes available.