I'm not well versed in MLB CBA but, on the surface, it looks like the owners threw the players the same CBA but added in a few cookies to make it look like they were negotiating in good faith. The players who have 9 figure salaries (like 6 out of the 8 members of that committee) could afford to sweat it out for something better but the fail to realize that most of their colleagues don't have that luxury and basically took the deal so they wouldn't miss games (e.g. paychecks). I might be completely off base but that's what it looked like.
I’d say they got more than a few cookies. With the raises to minimum and the new bonus pool the top 100 guys under three years are going to see their pay go from about $600,000 to 1.3 or so. That’s a pretty big deal for those top 100 guys. The guys that aren’t top 100 amongst the non arbitration eligible (low performers) are getting a 20-25% raise. But yeah- you aren’t completely wrong if you want to think of it that way.
Here's how the 2023 schedule will break down: DIVISION GAMES (56): Clubs play all four teams in their division 14 times. (Current total: 19) So that means one three-game series and one four-game series each, both home and road. OTHER 10 LEAGUE OPPONENTS (60): Those non-division teams within your league? You’ll play them six times apiece — three at home, three on the road. (Current total: six or seven apiece) INTERLEAGUE SCHEDULE (46): Here’s how this works: Every team plays its interleague “rival” (Mets-Yankees, Cubs-White Sox, you know the deal) four times — two at home, two on the road. (Current total: four or six games, depending on the season). As for the other 14 teams in the opposite league, you’ll play three games against every one of them. Half are at home. Half are on the road. Then that will flip the following year. https://theathletic.com/3178572/202...e-many-mlb-schedule-changes-in-2022-and-2023/
We'll see them once a year. I'm sure the Diamondbacks remain as our "rival" team that we play twice each season.
As a fan that lives in an NL city and got screwed when the Astros moved to the AL, this is by far my favorite part of the new arrangement. I'll get to at least see the Astros in my home town every other season.
Spoiler CLEARWATER, Fla. — Just when you thought it was safe to hunker down for those good old extra-inning marathons of yesteryear, well, not so fast. The ghost runner may be back. As part of their negotiations on health and safety protocols, Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association are discussing restoring the rule that placed a runner on second to begin extra innings, sources on both sides told The Athletic on Monday. No agreement has been reached. But several players said they expect the rule to be enacted once the protocols are announced in the next 24 to 48 hours. The ghost-runner rule has been in effect for each of the last two seasons, as part of baseball’s pandemic efforts to limit not just marathon games but also time spent at the ballpark. The rule was supposed to have expired after last season, but commissioner Rob Manfred has endorsed it multiple times, and players generally like it. Fan reaction, on the other hand, has ranged from lukewarm to indifferent. In a nationwide survey last March, the Seton Hall Sports Poll asked 1,538 adults about the rule. Just 17 percent of the general population approved. The approval rating was only 28 percent among sports fans in general and 41 percent among avid fans. The disapproval rating stood at 33 percent, 40 percent and 34 percent, respectively, among those three groups. Despite that fan negativity, it isn’t out of the question that the extra-inning rule could return — for this year and beyond. Sources said the union surveyed player reps for all 30 teams Sunday to gauge player interest. Early indications are that players heavily support it. But negotiators continued to discuss it Monday, on several levels. One question, even if the rule is enacted, is what inning it would go into effect. It is possible that, rather than using it in all extra innings, the ghost runner wouldn’t be used until the 11th inning or even the 12th. Another concern players have voiced is how stats are handled. In 2020 and 2021, pitchers who allowed the ghost runner to score were charged with only an unearned run. But not surprisingly, pitchers aren’t happy about being held responsible for runs scored by players they never put on base, so they would like even the unearned run to be charged in some other way. Nevertheless, there is no easy statistical resolution for that complaint. What the rule’s biggest fans like most, though, is that the rule has done what it was intended to do — namely, to all but eliminate endless extra-inning games that last six hours or more and have major ripple effects on health, rosters and travel. In 2021, just 16 games lasted more than 11 innings — compared with 60 in 2019, the final full season before the rule was implemented. Only one game went 15 innings or beyond last year, versus 15 in 2019. “We can appreciate the tradition,” one veteran pitcher, who is active in the union, told The Athletic in a text message Monday. “But I think it has worked. Games end sooner and in an exciting way. No more 18-inning games where guys get hurt or it kills your team for a week or two. Or a guy gets sent down for throwing four great innings in relief, but you need a warm body for tomorrow.”
