Major League Baseball released their 2022 regular season schedule on August 4, 2021. The National League will adopt the designated hitter on a permanent basis, after having previously used it on a temporary basis during the shortened 2020 season, while the postseason will be expanded to 12 teams. Ĭhanges in the new CBA include a pre-arbitration bonus pool for eligible young players, increased minimum salaries (increasing from $700,000 to $780,000 over the length of the deal), a draft lottery to determine the top six selections in the draft, the establishment of an international draft, and the establishment of a Joint Competition Committee that, in 2023, will oversee the adoption of future rule changes (including base sizes and pitch clocks among others). The league plans to play a full, 162-game season, and games displaced by the delayed start have been rescheduled. Players began reporting to training camps on March 11, spring training began on March 17, and Opening Day on April 7. On March 10, 2022, almost 100 days after the beginning of the lockout, MLB and the MLBPA reached a deal on a new, five-year CBA. It would be the first year since 1920 to not have a major league phase of the Rule 5 draft, though the minor league phase will still go ahead as scheduled. It instituted a transaction freeze, including the postponement of the major league portion of the Rule 5 draft. The 2021–22 lockout was the first MLB work stoppage since the 1994–95 strike. Issues raised between the league and union involved compensation for young players, as well as limitations on tanking to receive higher selections in the MLB draft.
On December 2, 2021, MLB owners voted unanimously to enact a lockout upon the expiration of the 2016 collective bargaining agreement between the league and the players' union. Main article: 2021–22 Major League Baseball lockout