Report: Blue Jays Baseball Set To Return As MLB and Union Agree on New CBA

Toronto Blue Jays baseball will soon return as Major League Baseball's owners and the MLBPA agree on a new CBA, pending ratification, per reports

Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

Major League Baseball is unlocked. 

As the MLB lockout neared day 100, talks towards a new collective bargaining re-sparked Thursday after negotiations stalled on Wednesday night. It wasn't the first time talks of progress, late-night negotiations, and pushed deadlines inspired optimism, but this time was different.

After over three locked-out months with no transactions, no communication between players and teams, and no baseball, a deal has been achieved. The MLBPA and MLB ownership have agreed on a new CBA, that has since been ratified. baseball is back. 

With little movement or consensus throughout much of the winter lockout, MLB set Tuesday, March 8 self-imposed deadline to avoid the cancelation of more 2022 games, and a deadline to fit a full 162 game season in, per The Athletic's Evan Drellich. However, after talks leaked into Wednesday and stalled due to disagreement over an international draft, the two sides met again on Thursday, pushing the deadline once again.

Though MLB announced the cancelation of another week of games on Wednesday, Commissioner Rob Manfred's "disaster" scenario of missing games was still avoided. With an agreement on Thursday, canceled games have been added back into the current schedule in the form of doubleheaders and a season extension at the end of the year. The two series already canceled for the Blue Jays were opening sets against the Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles. The 2022 season will begin on April 7 for most teams, with Toronto's opening day slated for April 8.

The two sides of baseball's labor depute came together on core economic issues including a rise to league-minimum salaries and MLB's competitive balance tax. Complete details of the agreed upon deal are not yet known, but other concepts discussed in the final days of negotiations include an international draft, expanded postseason, and changes to luxury tax penalties.

Major League Baseball's players were locked out by the owners since December 2, 2021, and the league's 40-man roster players were unable to use team facilities or be in contact with team personnel throughout the lockout. After the deal's ratification, players can now contact teams, trades and free agent signings will resume, and players will report to a now-delayed spring training.

Along with the rest of the league, the Toronto Blue Jays' major league spring training schedule had been canceled through March 17th. It's unclear when MLB spring training will officially start or when the Jays will play their first game of the spring, but one thing is certain:

Baseball is back.

H/T Evan Drellich, Ben Nicholson-Smith, Bob Nightengale, Ken Rosenthal, Jon Heyman