MLB’s New CBA and my thoughts on it

As many sport fans know, the MLB was in a lockout for 99 days by the owners. Currently, I have mixed feelings on the new CBA that was created and agreed upon. I do like a lot of what was agreed on, but some of the things just made no sense to me. Meanwhile this new CBA will stay in effect until the end of the 2027 season. Now it is time for me to explain what I like about the new CBA.

The first thing that I liked about the new CBA is the increase in minimum salaries as well as a $50M bonus pool for rookies that make the league minimum since they are not able to make their actual wage. I feel that it is better to pay the players who fans want to come and see, as well as a team that is going to win. The next thing that I liked about the CBA is that there will be draft pick incentives if teams stop manipulating top prospects for service time purposes. This has been a major issue as we have seen team after team holding their players down for a certain amount of time so that they can just get an extra year of control while paying them the league minimum. Another thing that I liked in the CBA was expanding the playoffs to twelve teams. This is great for the game because October baseball is like no other playoffs for any other league because you can never predict a baseball game's outcome, especially a playoff series. I also liked how in the CBA they limited the number of times a player can be called up and sent down as this is another way to manipulate service time, as well as paying players less than what they would be making. I also liked how they made double headers back to nine inning games, as seven inning games have no business in the MLB. I also liked how the medical benefits for players and their families. As before, some teams did not offer the best services for families, which makes players want to leave. They also added improved benefits for retired players, as they all deserve this for once playing this sport during their lifetime. The last thing that I liked is the voluntary scouting combine for amateur prospects, as this gives more players a chance to hopefully pursue their dreams of playing professional baseball.

Now for the parts that I did not like. The first thing I did not like was keeping the ghost runner for extra innings for the 2022 season. First off this is not international baseball, and it takes away from America’s Past Time. The second thing I did not like form the CBA is that they want to make the bases bigger, like this is just straight up dumb for baseball being “a game of inches.” The next thing that I did not like about the new CBA is that they will be banning the shift starting in the 2023 season. This is another ridiculous thing to do because you can’t hit a ball to the other side of the field. This rule is basically like telling safeties in football that they can't be playing man-to-man coverage. They should know how to hit the ball the other way since they are professionals and the best at the sport. The last thing that I did not like about the CBA was that they did not include a minimum payroll for teams that are known to tank season after season because they just do not want to pay players. I feel they should force these teams to try to win somewhat. Overall, this CBA has me feeling mixed emotions, but I want to hear your thoughts on it as well.