The collective bargaining agreement between Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association expires at 11:59 p.m. ET on Tuesday, December 1, 2026. The two sides are far apart, chiefly because owners have proposed a salary cap, something baseball has never had, and a lockout by the owners is widely expected when the deal ends, as happened after the last agreement expired in 2021. Here is what the labor deal covers, what each side wants and what a lockout would mean.
What the Labor Deal Covers
The collective bargaining agreement, or CBA, sets the economic rules of the sport: the minimum salary, how long players wait for arbitration and free agency, the luxury tax thresholds, revenue sharing between teams, the postseason format and roster rules. The current five year deal was reached on March 10, 2022, ending a 99 day lockout.
What Each Side Wants
Owners want a salary cap, which they last proposed during the 1994 negotiations. Their formal proposal calls for a cap of $245.3 million and a floor of $171.2 million per team for 2027, both including benefits, tied to sharing baseball revenue with players 50 50, the model used in the NFL and NBA. Owners argue it would level the field between high and low payroll teams, a debate sharpened by the Dodgers’ spending and back to back titles.
Players have opposed a cap for decades and call it a nonstarter. Union negotiator Bruce Meyer has described it as a form of institutionalized collusion and estimated that players would have lost more than half a billion dollars in 2026 under the league’s proposal. The union has focused instead on pay for younger players, free agency and competitive balance measures that do not limit spending.
Lockout or Strike: What Is the Difference?
A lockout is started by the owners, who shut players out of team facilities and freeze business until a deal is reached. A strike is started by the players, who refuse to work. Owners locked players out when the last deal expired in December 2021, and most reporting expects the same approach on December 2, 2026.
What Happens During a Lockout
During a lockout, teams cannot sign, trade or communicate with players on their 40 man rosters, and those players cannot use team facilities or trainers. Free agency stops. Deals agreed before the deadline stand, which is why a rush of signings happened in the days before the 2021 lockout. Minor league players who are not on 40 man rosters are covered by their own separate agreement, reached in 2023, so the minor league system keeps operating.
A winter lockout does not cost games by itself. Games are lost only if it lasts into the regular season, and in practice the pressure point is early to mid March, when a delayed start to spring training begins to threaten Opening Day.
Key Dates
The World Series ends in late October or early November, and free agency opens shortly after. The CBA expires at 11:59 p.m. ET on December 1. Spring training for 2027 is scheduled to open in February, and Opening Day would follow in late March.
MLB Work Stoppage History
Baseball has had nine work stoppages since players first struck in 1972.
| Year | Type | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Strike | First players strike; 86 regular season games canceled |
| 1973 | Lockout | Spring training delayed |
| 1976 | Lockout | Spring training delayed as free agency began |
| 1980 | Strike | Final week of spring training canceled |
| 1981 | Strike | Midseason strike; 713 games canceled and a split season |
| 1985 | Strike | Two days in August; games made up |
| 1990 | Lockout | Spring training delayed; Opening Day pushed back a week |
| 1994 to 1995 | Strike | The 1994 World Series was canceled |
| 2021 to 2022 | Lockout | Opening Day delayed to April 7; 162 games still played |
The 2021 to 2022 lockout was the first work stoppage since the 1994 to 1995 strike, which canceled the World Series for the first time since 1904.
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