As expected, owners voted unanimously to institute an MLB lockout on Wednesday night as no new collective bargaining agreement deal was reached.
The inevitable has taken its course.
The MLB winter lockout will begin on Thursday after a unanimous vote from the owners on Wednesday night, according to Jon Heyman.
MLB lockout gets unanimous vote from owners with no CBA agreement in place
The collective bargaining agreement between MLB and the players association expired and no new deal was hammered out in time to avoid a lockout.
Breaking: MLB owners vote unanimously to institute a lockout. It is expected to begin tomorrow but unclear what time.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 2, 2021
Bob Nightengale backed up Heyman’s reporting with a press conference expected to come on Thursday.
The expectation is that #MLB will inform the #MLBPA in 45 minutes that they are imposing a lockout, at 12:01 a.m. ET, with MLB having a press conference on Thursday in Arlington, Texas., to explain the decision.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) December 2, 2021
There were a slew of free agency deals completed ahead of the Wednesday deadline in anticipation of a lockout.
This is the first MLB lockout since 1994 and that was a long one lasting 230 days.
Fortunately, both sides have big incentives to figure out a deal before the 2022 season is in danger of being impacted. There is a whole lot of money at stake on both sides.
Spring training is supposed to begin in February, so the clock is ticking. We’ll see how long it takes for the two sides to come together with a deal.