MLB lockout ends after 99 days as chiefs and Players Association agree new five-year CBA which includes a minimum salary pay-rise

Major League Baseball and MLB Players Association have agreed on a new collective-bargaining agreement (CBA).

The agreement ends an agonisingly long 99-day lockout and means that an entire regular season will be played.

It draws the curtain on the second-longest work stoppage in the game’s history.

Free-agent signing and trades could occur from Thursday evening with spring training camps open on Sunday, as baseball attempts to return to normalcy after four months of failed negotiations.

The final vote by MLBPA’s eight executive board members and 30 player reps was 26-12 in favour of the agreement.

The basic agreement governs almost every aspect of the game, but economic issues were the core of labour talks.

For example, the minimum salary (for players who have been in the major leagues for less than three years) increases from $575,000 (£440,000) to $780,000 (£596,000).

Other aspects of the deal include:

• A 45-day window for MLB to implement rules changes – among them a pitch clock, ban on shifts and larger bases in the 2023 season

• The National League adopting the designated hitter

• A draft lottery implemented with the intent of discouraging rebuilding

• Limiting the number of times a player can be optioned to the minor leagues in one season

In the end, baseball avoided a work stoppage that wiped out a large chunk of the season. Now comes the fun-filled free-agent frenzy that will see star players such as first-baseman Freddie Freeman, shortstop Carlos Correa, pitcher Clayton Kershaw and infielder Kris Bryant sign.

Opening day is estimated to be around April 7, as we hope for five years of labour peace, five years of prosperity and five years to erase and forget the ugly winter gone.

By Alex Worth