What to expect after the MLB comes out of lockout

Baseball is chaos right now. Due to some disputes involving the higher-ups of America’s Pastime, the MLB has been put in a lockout. What is a lockout? How does this affect the start of the season?

What is a lockout

As we know, the MLB was put into lockout last week as the Commissioner’s office and players association were not able to come to an agreement on the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, which expired at the end of this season. During the lockout, players, coaches, team staff, and front office members do not report to work. But, they still receive their paycheck. The lockout ends once the players and team staff are off the strike and those who represent them come to an agreement with the Commissioner’s office.

Transactions

Since part of the lockout is a “strike,” the MLB is also under a transaction freeze. No trades nor adjustments to the twenty-six or forty man rosters can be made at this time. Most importantly, no free agents may be signed during the lockout. If they are unsigned now, they will remain unsigned until the transaction freeze is lifted. The freeze should be lifted once the lockout is over.

Aside from the obvious reasons, this is very significant for the players and front office staff. As stated, each unsigned player will want to sign with a team as soon as possible when the lockout ends and the transaction freeze is lifted. With a player having no idea which area of North America he’ll be playing in, that impacts a lot of the constants in an athlete’s life. For instance, they have to find a new home and get their children enrolled in new school. Teams have to prepare for the upcoming season financially in so many ways. I cannot list all of them, but there are so many factors behind the scenes that the lockout is completely changing for the worse.

Spring Training

Now, this is probably the reason you clicked this article. How will this lockout affect you being able to recline in your rocker with a hot dog fresh off the grill at 7:05 every night as you settle in to turn on the Phightin’ Phils.

Hopefully, it won’t.

Historically, we should not miss any games. In 1985, the MLB was in lockout for just a few days. In 1994, the World Series and 937 other games were canceled because of the disputes. Clearly, these two events are on very opposite ends of the spectrum. Out of the eight previous strikes, only three resulted in cancelations. Out of those three, only one was significant enough that it lasted for an extended period of time.

With this said, you should not worry about missing any of Spring Training if you are a ticket holder like myself. Although, I do have to point out that is what the experts told us about COVID-19. We all saw how that worked out. Anyhow, If you are planning a trip, it might be best to wait until the lockout ends to finalize your purchase. No point in taking that risk.

Happy lockout fellow fans! Follow PSR and all of our writers on social media for updates regarding the lockout or any other news to do with Philly Sports. Or, if you are just bored during lockout, we are always providing entertainment on Twitter.